


Fox in the Hole

by boomturkey



Series: Inarizaki!Hinata [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Inarizaki!Hinata, M/M, Middle School Hinata, Slow Burn, They ain't gonna smooch for awhile, Training Camp, like the slowest of burns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 48,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25112218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomturkey/pseuds/boomturkey
Summary: Hinata Shouyou moves to Hyougo and loses his first and last middle school volleyball game. In the process he somehow manages to gain two somewhat mean and confusing new friends: Miya Atsumu and Miya Osamu.Their goal: Get Hinata to Inarizaki so he can play volleyball with them.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Series: Inarizaki!Hinata [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818832
Comments: 651
Kudos: 3274





	1. A toss just for me?

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by @hq_shoucan's awesome fanart.
> 
> What is fanfic but the ultimate expression and record of self indulgence? 
> 
> I just really wanted to write Inarizaki Hinata. Please enjoy!
> 
> UPDATE: Please go look at [this beautiful art](https://twitter.com/nyanayuki/status/1282701539409309698) from [@nyanayuki](https://twitter.com/nyanayuki) of Hinata's birthday cake from Chapter 3. I'm crying. It's so beautiful.
> 
> [Hinata dancing with his chickens](https://twitter.com/kittygonyan/status/1283488572381827073?s=21)! Absolutely adorable art by [@kittygonyan](https://twitter.com/kittygonyan)

Everyday Aran ponders the question of what exactly he must have done in a past life to anger the gods such that he’d be punished with the existence of the Miya twins. Because surely it must have been truly horrific for him to be burdened with the antics of Hyougo’s best players and absolute worst teammates.

Surprising absolutely no one, Atsumu and Osamu managed to prove themselves enough to earn starting positions by the end of April in their first year. This guaranteed they’d be on the starting lineup for the upcoming Inter-High. Unfortunately, earning their spots meant they had supplanted Inarizaki’s former third year starting setter and the self-proclaimed third year ace.

The twins have been, to a word: insufferable. Or at least Atsumu has. Osamu has been trying to be somewhat quiet and chagrined about the act of displacing two third years, but it just took Atsumu picking at his brother to reveal what Osamu really thought. If Aran had 100 yen for every time the twins have used the word ‘scrub’ maliciously (Atsumu) or accidentally (Osamu) in the five weeks since they’d joined the team, Aran would have enough money to buy everyone on the team new court shoes.

_(Though if pressed, Aran might admit that he was kind of glad Atsumu had taken the old setter’s spot. He liked to call Aran “gaijin” when tossing to him, despite being corrected numerous times that Aran had in fact been born here in Kobe.)_

_(Aran will never admit this out loud, lest it encourages them, but he’d been grateful for Atsumu after he joined the team. During a scrimmage early on in the term the old setter had used the ‘nickname’. In a truly uncharacteristic move, Atsumu caught the ball in the middle of a play, face screwed up in rage, demonstrating his willingness to pick a fight with anyone, including the then starting setter. Atsumu likely would have been on the starting lineup earlier in the term, but that explosive display set him back just a bit.)_

_(Aran hasn’t been called “gaijin” in weeks)_

There Aran had been before the start of his second year, excited at the prospect of once again playing with the indomitable Miya twins. They were his friends. Sort of. Challenging and oftentimes selfish friends, but they also loved volleyball just as much as he did. They’d helped lead Yako Middle, their junior high, to nationals last year. Aran had been naively optimistic about how much more mature the twins would get upon entering high school. He really should have known better. Atsumu wouldn’t change for anyone or anything except volleyball, and Osamu was secretly just as obnoxious, he just hid it better under a veneer of bored disinterest.

Worse yet, making the starting lineup barely a month into their time at Inarizaki confirmed the worst biases in the twins. That they were better than everyone else, even in the middle of their growth spurts, when they should have been awkward and gawky in their movements on the court. Osamu at least affixed a ‘-senpai’ when he addressed his upperclassmen. When confronted by the third year backup setter, incensed at Atsumu’s audacity to exist and displace him, Atsumu had just shrugged with a bored look on his face and said “Suck less then”.

Aran has stopped three scuffles since their addition to the starting lineup, and he‘s pretty sure he won’t survive another whole year of this. His only saving grace is that miraculously, Kita Shinsuke terrifies the twins. Kita alone stood vigilant, their last bastion ensuring that the Miya twins paid their dues cleaning up the gym after practice like the first years that they were.

Atsumu had initially tried to beg off, explicitly because he was a starter now, mouthing off about how the benchwarming scrubs could handle it. But Kita had just stared at him, until Atsumu started to squirm, and then Kita disappeared into the storage room to grab a broom, thrusting it into Atsumu’s hands.

“Am I a scrub Atsumu-san?” Kita asked calmly, face placid.

Atsumu had reared back, clutching the broom in front of him, face red, sweating more than he had been after finishing drills “No! Of course not!” Voice cracking only a little, putting his head down and getting to work. It only took Kita staring at the twins for a little too long to get them to wilt and fall in line, if however briefly. Aran was grateful for the power of Kita Shinsuke every single day.

“Kita-senpai” Osamu called, only half finished picking up balls strewn around the court. Kita turned to look at him from where he was scrubbing down the ball carts with a cloth, not that he needed to as a second year, he apparently just liked cleaning “Uh, me ‘n ‘Sumu were gonna go watch our old middle school play in the Inter-Middle Tournament. Can we leave early?” Atsumu loomed over Osamu’s shoulder, watching intently for his answer.

When they stood close like that it was really hard to tell them apart, especially with near matching facial expressions. Aran had once fantasized about putting colourful clips in each of their hair to help distinguish them. He was getting better at realizing who was who on the court, he just wished there was a better, quicker visual marker to distinguish them. Maybe headbands? If Aran wore one too, would the twins?

From across the gym their third year captain scoffed loudly, once again irritated that the twins would only deign to be respectful to Kita. Or maybe it was they were asking a second year for permission to leave, and not their captain. It seemed to Aran like maybe the captain and vice captain had washed their hands of managing the twins, and they still had another 11 months in the term.

Kita tilted his head, his expression made of still waters as he contemplated the request “When does the game start?”

“45 minutes.” Atsumu said eagerly, abandoning all pretenses that he was wiping down the floors.

“You can run fast, you’ll make it after you finish cleaning.” Kita said, turning back to his task.

“But we want to cheer on our juniors!” Atsumu whined petulantly.

Aran blinked in surprise. Really? For a very brief moment Aran was unbelievably touched. He knew Osamu had been captain for Yako Middle last year, with Atsumu as vice captain. To think they’d grown enough to want to support their underclassmen! He remembered the way little Riseki Heisuke had mooned after the twins when Aran had been captain at Yako in his third year. To think, they’d go to support their old team, just like Aran had for the twins and everyone else last year.

With a smile on his face Aran held up a hand “I’ll help you guys” He said jogging over, basking in the beaming smiles the twins gave him “Wouldn’t want you to be late”

Aran still has no idea why he keeps letting himself be taken in by these two awful gremlins.

No sooner had they finished putting the balls away and sweeping the floor had the twins darted into the changeroom to pull on their tracksuits. Without missing a beat Aran overheard Atsumu say “Oh man, I can’t wait to see Heisuke-kun’s face when we heckle him” And Osamu laughed as they beat a hasty retreat towards the gym doors.

Aran darted in front of them blocking off the doors so they couldn’t leave, holding his hands out. “Wait, what do you mean heckle him?”

The twins blinked in unison and for half a second Aran forgot which one was which, before Osamu tilted his head “We’re gonna go cheer for Yako Middle”

Aran pointed an accusing finger at the other twin “Atsumu just said you’re going to heckle Riseki-kun”

Atsumu bobbed his head in a nod “Yeah, we’re gonna go support the ‘ole team, by lettin’ ‘em have it” He gave a lopsided grin.

Pressing his hands to his forehead, Aran gave a pained sigh “How is that support?”

“Y’know, like ya did fer us last year.” Osamu just looked plain confused to be having this conversation.

Aran gave an affronted huff. He had not gone to watch his old team to heckle them last year. He’d gone to support and cheer for them! Like a good former captain ought to! Like he thought the twins were doing! “I didn’t heckle you guys last year. I went to cheer you on!”

The twins squinted at him, tilting their heads in unison which was just a bit creepy before Atsumu spoke “Yeah, that’s just not our style”

“Yeah” Osamu agreed.

“Everyone would think something was wrong with us if we went and just cheered for ‘em”

“Or think we became scrubs in high school”

Atsumu’s lip curls at the suggestion “Yeah, we ain’t lame”

Aran stepped out of their way, wiping a hand down his face. The twins cheered, both of them smacking Aran’s shoulder and trotting out of the gym. Off to go menace a bunch of poor middle schoolers who did absolutely nothing to deserve this.

Kita approached him after they’d long since left, Aran still staring forlornly at the door that clattered closed behind the two most insufferable people Aran had ever met. Aran looked down at his friend and heaved a sigh “Can you remind me of this the next time I offer to help them with anything?”

Kita gives his shoulder a gentle pat “We all learn hard lessons to carry with us into the future”

Aran squints his eyes at Kita “Was that a yes, or...”

Kita just smiles enigmatically and walked away, off to go thoroughly clean another surface.

Grumbling under his breath, Aran turns to follow him “Damn Shinsuke...” He needs to make sure Kita doesn’t stay too late cleaning again.

* * *

“Ya ever heard of this school Yako Middle is playin’ Sumu?”

Climbing up the ladder to the upper viewing area behind his brother, Atsumu lifts himself up to the elevated platform before answering “Nope” He says, popping the ‘p’.

They find spots along the rail near the middle of the court. The only other people here watching are a few intense looking parents with little kids sitting on the ground at their feet, and some of the first year reserve players for Yako Middle, by the look of the fear on their faces and the size of their tiny frail little preteen bodies.

There’s no seats to be had and Atsumu kinda wished they’d waited until tomorrow or Sunday to attend a game in the main gymnasium with actual bleachers. But then he’d be watching middle school volleyball on his day off and that sounded lame. So instead they’re in one of those sad cast off gyms not even fit to play basketball in, let alone a game of volleyball. Resigned to standing after a hard practice, Atsumu uses the railing as leverage to get a good stretch in his calves. He pointedly ignores the glares and scoffs from grumpy-ass parents sent his way for blocking the path as he stretched.

Six kids, sans coach and no subs walk out onto the court to represent the no name Yukigaoka Junior High. Atsumu had never heard of them before, and he’d been pretty obsessive about memorizing all the names of schools he’d seen attend the Inter-Middle back in the day. Just on the off chance that there’d be some freaky good player he’d have to worry about down the road. Better to know where new potential rivals came from. Yukigaoka had never been on any tournament listing he’d ever seen. They must really suck.

Sometimes Atsumu thinks himself a prophet. He sees right away as they start warming up, this isn’t a team of volleyball players. There isn’t a decent player in the group of them, except maybe their ludicrously tiny orange haired captain, who would otherwise be a scrub by any other definition, but looks amazing next to his amateur peers. Why the fuck were these kids even here? They were basically going to be meat pilons for Yako Middle to crush.

Atsumu groans audibly, pressing his forehead into the railing after watching the tallest boy on the scrub team fumble the easiest, most basic overhand pass. He’d seen six year olds who could do better “Augh, Samu let’s go, this is going to be worthless” He says it loudly, earning him glares from the parents around him.

What a waste of an afternoon. He could have stayed late at practice and worked on alternating hits and sets with Osamu, something he’d been meaning to try more of. Their own team often had trouble telling them apart, so he imagined other high school teams would be deeply frustrated trying to figure out which of the two of them was the setter on the court. Even if their numbers gave it away, a moment's hesitation was all Atsumu needed to exploit the blockers.

Instead he’s here to watch his old team that he doesn’t give a shit about play a group of nothing players, wasting his time. Osamu had been the one who wanted to go in the first place. Trying to emulate that image of being a nice and cool upperclassman that Aran had in spades. Which was lame as hell. Osamu had pointed out to him that a number of these kids were likely going to Inarizaki next year, so it might be good to scope out new potential hitters and middle blockers.

Osamu had whined and cajoled and eventually settled for bribing Atsumu with ice cream to get him to come. Partially because Osamu was smart enough to know that Atsumu had a good eye for assessing skills, and partly because Osamu would need SOMEONE to give his running scathing commentary to. It had to be Atsumu that came with him ‘cause Osamu couldn’t bear for anyone to know that he was as “honest” as Atsumu sometimes. Osamu was so fake, jeez.

Though Atsumu was fully intending to exploit this deal, grabbing a tub of strawberry ice cream from the konbini later because Osamu hadn’t specified spending totals or size before they’d agreed. Atsumu had learned long ago to take miles for every inch given.

Osamu was giving him an unimpressed look before sighing “Yeah, but Heisuke-kun already saw us” It had almost been cute the way little Riseki had flushed with delight and waved at them enthusiastically when he noticed them up in the viewing deck. Osamu turned his flat stare to the group of six scrubs opposite Yako Middle “This’ll be over in half an hour anyways”

Atsumu snorted a laugh, smirking as the teams shook hands. If it even took that long.

Riseki was probably less excited about the twins being there when after three service aces in a row, he knocked one into the net and Atsumu had loudly called “Goony!” And Osamu had laughed and booed in agreement. The first set was over in just over ten minutes. Atsumu and Osamu calling plays like they saw them, being brutally honest and having a great time beaking at the players on both sides of the net. At least at first, it got kind of boring and repetitive to heckle a bunch of babies who sucked as much as Yukigaoka did.

It was pathetic really. Yukigaoka couldn’t receive for shit, so anytime the ball came to their side of the net, 90% of the time it stayed there. The few times they managed to get the ball up they were so flustered and panicked that they couldn’t do much in the way of attacking, sending hail mary’s over the net, only to have it spiked right back at them.

The worst of it was watching the futile effort from the tiny orange haired kid. He looked so fiercely determined the whole time, trying to keep the spirits up on his nothing team, cheering loudly and offering supportive shoulder pats, like a good little captain. He’d also demonstrated a tremendous amount of hustle on the court the entire time his team was slaughtered. Watching him sprint as hard as he could to dive for balls out of his reach almost stirred something in Atsumu’s chest. Probably indigestion. Or maybe he was just hungry.

Just last week Atsumu had gotten into it with one of the regular third years, an uppity middle blocker who’d lazily loped after a one touch, not bothering to run after the ball. It resulted in Atsumu’s squad for the scrimmage losing the point, and ending his serving streak. Atsumu had snapped at the asshole, letting him know that was unacceptable, you don’t get to play that way on his team. It had taken Aran, Osamu, Kita, and Oomimi to stop Atsumu from getting decked by his bigger teammate, but Atsumu didn’t give a shit. There was nothing Atsumu hated more than lazy play, and he would call them like he saw them.

This kid had hustle and drive. Just not a lot in the way of talent. He could jump too. One of the few points Yukigaoka had managed to score for itself had been a pretty ugly block, the Yako Middle spiker unprepared for a five foot nothing kid to be in his face as he was swinging.

Osamu snorted when he saw it “Shit, I mighta been tripped up by that too” The kid had an insane vertical. But it didn’t stop him from sucking.

The second set was shaping up to run out even faster, Yukigaoka players all seeming to deflate. All except the orange haired shorty. Hell, even when the Yako Middle setter had made a snide comment Atsumu definitely would have said himself last year, about getting the game done quickly so they could go home and eat, Mr. Orange Hair had interrupted him.

“But we haven’t lost yet” Delivered bluntly, like it was obvious. Atsumu could just barely hear it over the restless and bored mumbles of the gymnasium. From his vantage he had the best view of the haunting expression on the kids’ face. Something about it made the hair on the back of Atsumu’s neck prickle. He was so dead serious, so determined.

It was true. The kid said the truth. He articulated something Atsumu wanted to beat into his teammates' heads, including even Osamu sometimes. Even when you were playing someone weaker than you, you needed to go all out, because at any moment they could rip victory from your fingers if you weren’t ready for them. There are no half ass plays. Only good plays and bad ones. And this shitty little orange haired amateur had said it to a team that had taken the first set in just over ten minutes. The gall. The righteousness. The truth.

Shit. Atsumu might be touched. He burbled a laugh, making Osamu look at him in confusion. “Doesn’t feel right to laugh at him ‘Sumu” Atsumu just shook his head, cradling his chin in his hand as he watched the rest of the brutal game unfurl beneath him.

It was almost set point when something miraculous happened. One of the Yukigaoka shit players actually managed a receive off of a lazy chance ball from Yako Middle. The ball went forward towards the net, to the tall shitty spiker, who Atsumu could see didn’t have his fingers oriented right. And just like he predicted the ball went sailing behind him in a high arc, despite the short orange haired kid being right where he needed to be for his spike midair. Shame. Atsumu would have liked to see how well he hit.

And then the orange haired kid hit the ground and in a blink and you miss it movement, crossed the width of the court, leaping into a perfect broad jump, his hand connecting with the ball and sending it in a beautiful straight. It was out. He missed. But that had been one of the most incredible plays Atsumu had ever seen in person.

“Uwah!” He and Osamu cried at once, gripping the railing as they leaned forward simultaneously.

“How the hell did he move so fast?” Osamu asked, staring slack jawed at the orange haired kid, apologizing to his team for missing that amazing shot.

“Samu, that was perfect form” Atsumu said back, his eyes wide, watching the teams line up, only to be scored on by another one of Riseki’s service aces, ending the game.

He and Osamu exited the gym to stand outside in the hall, his brother made him wait so they could say hi to their old team and coaches before they could finally leave. As they stood there they watched green uniforms stream out of the gym, most of the faces varying shades of acceptance and self deprecating humour. All except one, the orange haired kid walked out looking flushed and frustrated, his eyes bright with unshed tears.

Atsumu watched him stomp by, his team trailing after him, in wonder. Hadn’t he known that was an inevitable outcome? And he’d still hated to lose. That feeling that wasn’t quite indigestion hit his chest again. Osamu elbowed him when Atsumu failed to snap his gaze away from the retreating back swathed in green.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?”

“Who the heck was that kid?” Atsumu asks.

Osamu just shrugs “Dunno, he wasn't very good, but that last play was nuts. I don’t think Aran-kun could do that”

Atsumu smirked “Yeah, and you definitely couldn’t”

Osamu jabbed a thumb into his side painfully, making Atsumu pull him into a headlock, which is how Riseki found them a minute later, squabbling. They chatted for a bit, Osamu making all the good former captain noises, saying “Good job” this and “I’m proud of you” that. Even though Osamu had been just as mean as Atsumu up in the stands. His brother was so fake sometimes.

“Ya know who that orange haired kid was?” Atsumu asks, jerking his thumb at the entrance to the gymnasium where Yukigaoka had exited earlier. They’d shaken their old coaches' hands, the rest of Yako Middle leaving to go watch a game of their upcoming competition in another gym.

Riseki blinked at him “Uhh, no? Though coach said this was the first time ever that Yukigaoka put together a boys team. I think they’re a baseball school” He said with a shrug.

“Huh” Atsumu continues squinting at the exit. He wonders if he can catch the kid. Without bothering with a goodbye Atsumu walks off towards the exit, not caring if Osamu follows.

He can just barely hear the annoyed sound Osamu makes through the crowd and the “Bye Heisuke-kun, make us proud, don’t lose or ya can’t come play with us next year” And then Osamu is jogging to catch up with him. “The heck are ya doing, ya rude shit?”

Atsumu ignores him, pushing the doors open and scanning the open promenade around the gymnasium. There, near the bike racks, he can see a gaggle of lime green uniforms clustered around someone seated on the stone wall encircling the promenade. He starts making his way forward.

Osamu grips the back of his track jacket, yanking him back “What are ya doing ya creep?”

Atsumu glares over his shoulder, trying and failing to karate chop Osamu to get him to let him go “I just wanna go talk to him” He says, nodding at the orange haired kid, his head and shoulders bowed as his teammates start drifting away on bikes or towards the bus stop. The tiny orange captain stays rooted in place with his head dipped low, shoulders hunched.

Osamu’s face screws up in annoyed confusion “Why?”

Atsumu shrugs “Just cause.” he looks over to see the last kid milling around ole orange hair, fretting as the kid is obviously crying, but turning to leave anyways. Something about that makes Atsumu’s stomach sour in a way he’s not entirely familiar with. Maybe pity? Kid looks kinda lonely. “Arentcha curious?”

“About what?” Osamu balks, finally releasing Atsumu’s jacket.

“I dunno, just curious.” Atsumu says with a shrug and a grin that might be a bit manic. He doesn’t know how to describe the feeling in his chest. Like a giddiness made out of sour grapes that’s threatening to give him heartburn. He’s kind of pissed and he’s not sure why. He wants to know why this little shit with that amazing jump and speed went to a nothing school where he apparently didn’t learn how to do anything but lose.

Atsumu also wonders just how fast he actually is, and just how fast Atsumu can toss the ball that he’ll still hit it.

So he makes his way down the steps, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walks over to the low stone wall the orange haired kid is perched on. Atsumu was right, the kid is crying, plops of tears dotting the pavement under him where his head is bowed. He can feel his brother standing behind him as he stops short, a few feet from the kid.

“Hey.”

The kid sniffles but doesn’t lift his head. Annoyed, Atsumu takes a step forward and snaps his fingers “Oi, you, with the freaky jump.”

This gets his attention, the kid tilts his head up, tears streaked down his face to stare in confusion at Atsumu, his gaze sliding over his shoulder to where Osamu must be. He blinks hard, does a double take, wipes at his eyes and then does another double take “Uh, are there two of you?”

Atsumu smirks, glancing over at his brother who is trying to look resolutely bored. He flicks a finger from his face to over his shoulder where Osamu stands “Twins” He smirk goes a bit smarmy (at least that’s how his mom describes it) “The Miya twins” he says with a flick of his eyebrows. It must be obvious, with their Inarizaki track jackets and all.

The kid stares blankly at him, not recognizing the name in the slightest. “Uh, okay.” He sniffs again, his crying ceasing as his brows scrunch up in confusion.

Now it’s Atsumu’s turn to blink. He casts a dubious look at Osamu who rolls his eyes at him. Who plays volleyball in Hyougo and doesn’t know about the Miya twins? Atsumu frowns at the kid.

“You haven’t heard of us?” That sounded really lame, and he direly wishes he could take that back. Should have turned that question into an insult, like what kinda chump doesn’t know about the Miya twins? No, that’s still pretty lame.

“Uh, no.” The kid cringes, looking around, like he’s looking for an adult to help him. Or maybe for an opportunity to flee.

“Are you a first year?” Atsumu asks in confusion. That must be it. He is awfully small.

And then the orange haired kid’s face screws up with undisguised rage as he pushes to a stand, glaring up at Atsumu “No, I’m a third year” He snarls.

Atsumu raises his brows, stopping himself at the last second from taking a step back. For a pipsqueak he’s got an awful lot of presence. He hears Osamu snort behind him, so his brother definitely noticed the sway Atsumu just did. Great.

“What do you want? Have you come to make fun of me some more?” The orange haired kid asks, his face now flushed in anger, his jaw set as he clenches his fists at his side.

“Make fun?”

“I could hear you up in the stands, you... you... Big jerk!” The orange haired kid snarls again, his chest heaving. Osamu guffaws behind him. That insult obviously took a lot out of the kid. It was almost endearing, in a pathetic kind of way.

“Yer not from Hyougo, are ya?” Osamu asks, stepping forward to stand next to Atsumu.

The kid frowns, his fingers tug at his green jersey as he looks away “I moved here a few months ago.”

“Yeah, ya don’t have the accent, or seem very familiar with kansai hospitality.” Osamu says dryly.

The kid frowns “Kansai hospitality?”

“Here we like to heckle our teams, ta let ‘em know we care.” Osamu gives him a lopsided grin.

“That doesn’t seem very nice.” The kid says dubiously.

Atsumu snorts “Yeah, welcome to Hyougo.”

The kid scowls at him “People have been plenty nice to me, if they weren’t I wouldn’t have had my team-” And then he cuts himself off, pressing his lips together as his eyes cast downwards with the agony of his loss again. Atsumu notes distantly that his eyes are very expressive.

“Yeah, what the hell was that? Didn’t look like ya had a volleyball player in the bunch of ya.” Osamu says, putting his hands in his pockets as he shakes his head.

Hurt and anger flicker over the guy’s face, before he turns his watery glare to Osamu “I play volleyball!” He growls defiantly, tipping his chin up.

Atsumu’s grin is teasing “Ya sure about that? ‘Cause from where we were standin’ it kinda looked like ya didn’t know whatcha were doin’ either.”

The kids’ face flushes hot and the tears that had been in his eyes a moment ago disappear, and his eyes take on an eerie intensity as he looks at Atsumu. Same way they had when he’d bluntly informed Yako Middle the game wasn’t over yet “I’m a volleyball player” He’s incredibly still. Atsumu hadn’t realized how much motion the kid was doing, with fluttering hands and twisting fingers and rolling feet, until he stopped moving altogether. Spooky.

He and Osamu both almost take an involuntary step back, glancing at each other in surprise. “Sure, ya might like to be a volleyball player, but fer now yer receives are awful, ya can’t serve fer shit, ya got no sense of the court, I don’t think ya know what an overhand pass is.” Atsumu is enumerating on his fingers blithely, watching agitated twitches come back into the kid’s motions.

“And volleyball is a team sport, doesn’t look like ya got much of a team.” Osamu adds, bored.

The kid bows his head, staring at the ground. They can see the tips of his ears are red, his fists clenched at his sides. He mumbles something the twins don’t quite catch.

“Huh?”

His head snaps up and he looks furious even as his eyes shine with fresh tears “I don’t have a team at all! They quit on me, said it wasn’t fun to lose like that-” And then he snaps his mouth shut, clenching his jaw and looking away. Atsumu feels goosebumps prickle on the back of his neck, and he needs to stop himself from clamping a hand down at the sensation.

The kid heaves a sigh “And now I won’t get to play again until high school.” He says in a small bitter voice.

It is without a doubt the single most pathetic thing Atsumu has ever heard in his life. Which is the excuse he will use when Osamu asks him about it later, that he was taking pity on the saddest boy in the world. And that he hadn’t gotten enough setting practice in today. That’s all. Nothing else. Weird indigestion be damned.

Atsumu shifts forward, ignoring the surprised look Osamu shoots him, and tosses an arm around the kid's shoulder. Shorty stiffens immediately. “Alright, c’mon.” Atsumu says, tugging the kid back towards the gymnasium.

Shorty digs in his heels and tries to pull at Atsumu’s arm “Wait, what, are you kidnapping me?”

“Yeah, are you?” Osamu asks, confused.

“No dummies,” Atsumu clicks his tongue, offended “We’re going to sneak into a gym so I can toss for ya”

The kid ceases all struggles, going lax, allowing himself to be dragged forward. After a moment he asks softly “Really?”

Osamu echoes the question, walking in step with Atsumu on his other side, a profoundly concerned look on his face. Atsumu sniffs “Yeah, I wanna see that crazy broad jump again” The kid squirms beneath his arm, he keeps pace with Atsumu all the same. His eyes are wide with surprise, but there’s a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, timid as it is.

“I guess.” Osamu grumbles dubiously.

Turns out the only free gym was the one Yukigaoka just got smoked in, which might be awkward but Atsumu doesn’t give a shit. The next game’s warm ups won’t start in here for 45 minutes. Plenty of time before they get yelled at. Atsumu produces a ball from his bag, turning to look down at the kid. Osamu sits against the wall, a look of profound confusion and bored irritation on his face. Atsumu unzips his track jacket and flings it at his brother, smiling at the irritation on his face.

“Alright, so...” Atsumu squints at the kid “What’s yer name anyways?”

Big brown eyes blink at him, and then he digs his toe into the ground shyly “Hinata Shouyou”

“Right, Shouyou-kun-”

Hinata is staring at him wide eyed, managing to squeak in surprise “S-Shouyou-kun...?”

Atsumu’s brows pinch “It’s yer name ain’t it?”

“Isn’t that kinda overly familiar?” Hinata asks, mouth pressed together as his cheeks flush.

Atsumu shrugs “Whatever, I’m yer senpai” Osamu scoffs from his spot at the wall, but Atsumu magnanimously chooses to ignore him.

“Shouyou-kun,” And the way Hinata’s expression vacillates between pleased and embarrassed when Atsumu says it, means he’s going to keep using ‘Shouyou-kun’ forever “You line up over there, throw the ball to me, and I’ll letcha hit it nice and easy” He says, grin growing wide and toothy.

Hinata does as he’s told, but pauses, flicking an anxious glance between Osamu and Atsumu, clutching the ball to his stomach protectively “Are you sure?”

Atsumu snorts “Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t” He says simply, gesturing for Hinata to toss to him. When Hinata smiles at him bright and wide, his grin taking up most of his face as his eyes crinkle and his cheeks flush with delight, Atsumu can’t help but smile back at him.

The first hit isn’t great. Nor are the next five. Hinata is fast, and Atsumu’s tosses can match him easily, but his timing in the air is, well, amateur hour would be generous. Atsumu finds himself getting frustrated because Hinata hasn’t managed to nail a single good spike, only managing two dinks and a bunch of misses. And Atsumu hates when people miss his tosses. Hates it more than anything. The only reason he hasn’t yelled yet is because of the eager smile on Hinata’s face, which is annoyingly infectious. That and his bright eyes as he looks at Atsumu hopefully, demanding “One more try!”

Thankfully Osamu has had enough. He pushes to a stand “I can’t take this anymore. Just watch me, jeez” He doesn’t bother taking off his track jacket as he meanders over to Hinata, shooing him away, taking the ball and giving Atsumu a challenging glare as he flings it into the air. Atsumu grins, taking his challenge, throwing up a flashy back set close to the antenna, pleased when he sees the nice and sharp cross slam into the ground on the other side.

He’s about to give Osamu a backhanded compliment when Hinata is jumping in between them, his face manically happy as he hops up and down, with his hands clenched in front of him. “That was so cool!” He says looking up at Osamu “The way you nailed that was so perfect, like a real pro, I’ve never seen a cross shot like that in person before and you were like WAAHH! And then SCHWOOM and FWAM! You’re amazing!”

Atsumu watches the flicker of surprise turn to confusion on Osamu’s face before it settles into a pleased little grin, turning his nose up in the air, looking all self satisfied. Atsumu is about to open his mouth to complain that his toss was pretty good too thanks, when Hinata whirls on him.

“And your tosses are amazing! They’re so precise and fast! And the way you did that back set, oh my gosh, I’ve never seen anything like it, you make it look so easy!” Hinata’s eyes are practically sparkling as he stares up at Atsumu, before he tips his face up to the ceiling and he lets out a big whooshing breath with his eyes closed “You guys are so good” He gives a shake of his head, marvelling at that fact.

Atsumu’s chest does the indigestion thing again, though this time it’s a bit more squirmy. There’s something about the way Hinata doles out compliments that makes Atsumu want more of them. Kinda like his granny’s cookies and Atsumu has always been very greedy. Hinata is so genuine in his excitement. Just like a little kid. Atsumu wants to match him, wants to keep going forever, doing whatever he has to for these compliment showers to keep coming. Flicking a glance over at Osamu, he suspects his brother might actually feel the same.

“Well yeah, I toldja before, we’re the Miya twins” Atsumu’s grin is a bit lopsided “‘Course we’re good”

Hinata’s grin is wide “Well I know that now!” He looks up at Atsumu hopefully “Could I try one more toss?”

The indigestion feeling is back, but Atsumu ignores that to answer “Yeah, I said I wanna see one of those crazy jumps”

“Do the broad again.” Osamu cuts in, looking at Hinata intently.

“Broad?” Hinata asks, brows furrowed.

“The thing ya did at the end of your game, where you crossed the court” Osamu explains, pointing a finger in an arc across the court. “‘Sumu you can match him, right?”

Atsumu clicks his tongue “Obviously”

Hinata blinks but goes to line up, Osamu tossing up the ball for Atsumu this time so Hinata can focus on jumping and hitting alone “Just go fast and get in position, ‘Sumu will be there to meet ya.” Osamu tells Hinata, who nods seriously in response.

As the ball goes up Atsumu grins “Aww, ‘Samu, yer makin’ me blush”

And then in a smooth and near perfect motion, Atsumu’s fingers send the ball in the perfect trajectory for Hinata to nail midair as he leaps far higher and wider than either of the twins can currently manage. The ball smacks into the center of the court, Hinata having nailed it perfectly. The twins whoop with cheers, Atsumu pleased that he’d placed his serve so perfectly. He’s so good he can even make an amateur like Hinata shine.

Hinata is quiet for a moment staring at his right palm, a weird expression on his face. He lifts his head to look at Atsumu, a brilliant grin pulling across his face “One more toss?” He asks a bit breathlessly.

Atsumu beams back “Oh, we ain’t stopping yet.” Not when that had felt so awesome.

They play for another twenty minutes, Hinata nailing slightly more than half of the tosses he’s given, usually most successful after Osamu demonstrates something. Hinata has a freaky innate ability to work back and translate other’s motions into something he can do with his much smaller body, which is absolutely fascinating. Atsumu would have practiced the night away with this very weird, extremely athletic inexperienced kid, if it weren’t for the fact that the officials for the next game were shooing them out of the gym.

They’re standing on the front steps of the gymnasium, Osamu having just complained he wants ice cream. The twins turn to walk to the nearest konbini when Hinata’s slightly shrill voice calls to them from the top of the stairs “Thank you very much for today Miya Twin-sans!” He says with a low bow.

Atsumu and Osamu blink up at him “Osamu.” his brother says pointing at his own face.

Atsumu points at his own “Atsumu.”

Hinata flushes “I can’t just call you by your first names”

“Sure ya can,” Atsumu stretches his arms up, letting them swing down to his sides “Tell ya what, I’ll letcha call me Atsumu if ya buy me ice cream”

Osamu purses his lips “Do I still have to buy for you-”

“Yes”

Osamu sighs, rolling his eyes.

Hinata fidgets at the top of the stairs, watching them anxiously “It’ll have to be small ice creams, I don’t have a ton of money.”

He and Osamu share a look, damn he’s smart enough to set limits, before shrugging and starting their walk to the nearest shop. Hinata trots after them, seemingly bewildered that he’s still here. After Hinata has paid for their small ice cream bars, and Atsumu has smuggly gone into the cooler to grab a tub of strawberry ice cream, making a very huffy Osamu pay for it - the three of them stand outside eating.

“So when didja move here?” Osamu asks, better at casual conversation than Atsumu.

Hinata blinks “Before Christmas last year.”

Atsumu whistles “Ya managed to put together a team in five months?” Not that it was much of a team, but still.

Hinata flushes, looking away as he shrugs “I owe a lot of people a lot of favours now.”

“Cause ya wanted to play that badly?” Atsumu asks, watching him out of the corner of his eye.

Hinata lifts his head to stare at him, fiery determination in his eyes “Yes.” Atsumu can’t help the smile pulling at his lips. Anything for volleyball.

“Where ya from originally?” Osamu asks around the ice cream stick in his mouth.

“Miyagi.”

He and his brother exchange a look “They got like mountains there and stuff, right?” Osamu asks. Hinata nods.

“They also got Ushiwaka there.” Atsumu points out, and Osamu lifts his brows before nodding.

“What’s an Ushiwaka?”

They stare at Hinata blankly “Seriously?” Atsumu squawks. Hinata shrugs. “One of high school volleyball’s top aces? Ushijima Wakatoshi? He’s pretty famous around all of Japan?” Hinata shakes his head “He’s from yer old prefecture, and ya don’t know about one of the best players in all of Japan?”

“Didja play on yer old volleyball team back in Miyagi?” Osamu asks, curious.

Hinata flushes and shakes his head no “They didn’t have a boys team either. I practiced with the girls team there. And then when I moved, there’s a girls team at my school now, but they think I’m trying to be a creep, so they’ll only let me practice spiking and nothing else with them” He looks frustrated as he says it.

Atsumu would feel for the kid, but if he wanted to play volleyball so bad, why the heck does he keep going to schools with no team? “Then why’re ya going there? If ya can’t play volleyball?” Atsumu asks flatly, done with his ice cream bar, contemplating cracking open the tub of strawberry. But he doesn’t have a spoon...

Hinata flushes again, tipping his head up to scowl at Atsumu “I didn’t really have a choice.”

“Where ya planning on going to high school?” Osamu cuts in before a squabble can start.

“Oh, I haven’t really thought about it, I was kinda too focused on this tournament to give it much thought.” Hinata says with a shrug.

Osamu and Atsumu exchange a significant look, both of them conveying hesitation in what they’re going to say next. After a moment Osamu wrinkles his nose to convey ‘better not’. But Atsumu hates being told what to do so he says “You should come play with us at Inarizaki next year.”

Hinata stares at him blankly for a second “Wait, what?”

Osamu rolls his eyes but Atsumu presses onwards “Yeah, we’re the best team in the prefecture by miles. You should come play with us.”

Hinata’s eyes have gone wide and sparkly again, and Atsumu wonders if he’s about to be the recipient of a compliment shower, but Osamu leans forward to point a finger in Hinata’s face “But ya gotta get good before ya come, or ya won’t even get a tracksuit. Plenty of first years come ta try out and a bunch of ‘em don’t make it.”

Hinata’s expression of delight tapers into something more determined, a slight gleam to his eyes still “Yes! Of course!” He says fervently. He shifts his weight from foot to foot, looking about ready to start bouncing “But if it means I get to play with you guys, I’d do anything.”

Atsumu and Osamu both try and fail to keep their own pleased smiles off their faces, glowering at each other for a moment before turning to Hinata “Ya gotta fix yer receives, and get yer spiking time down, and fix yer court sense, and also yer serves are shit, so-” Atsumu starts enumerating all the things Hinata sucks at, before he pauses taking in Hinata’s expression. “What?”

Hinata is scuffing his shoe into the pavement, looking down at the ground “Do you know how I can work on those things by myself?” He looks ashamed to be asking and Atsumu’s persistent Hinata-indigestion twinges again.

He feels kinda bad for the kid. Moves miles and miles away from his friends to a new place where he doesn’t know anyone, tries to put together a team which failed spectacularly, and even the girls team won’t let him practice with them much. “They got a community team near yer place?”

Hinata averts his gaze, shaking his head “No, I checked.”

Atsumu and Osamu exchange another look, before Osamu heaves a sigh and plops a hand down on Hinata’s head, giving his hair a ruffle. Hinata stills, looking up surprised “‘Sumu is always real annoying about practicing too much, especially on rest days,” Atsumu makes an indignant noise, Osamu could stand to practice harder actually “So having someone else for him to toss to might be good”

Hinata stares up at him wide eyed, flicking his gaze between the twins “What are you saying?”

Osamu shrugs, “Wanna come practice with us on Saturday afternoons and Sundays? Maybe I’ll finally get some peace and quiet.” He muses, rubbing at his chin, a small smile creasing his lips.

“Don’t be so lazy ‘Samu” Atsumu scoffs, eyeing Hinata, who looks like he’s about to start vibrating “Yeah, you can come practice with us, as long as ya work hard,” He tilts his head up to look down his nose at Hinata “I don’t work with scrubs.”

“I don’t know what that is but I’ll try my hardest not to be one!” Hinata says eagerly.

“Good” Atsumu tips his head to look over at Osamu, before he slides his gaze down to Hinata again “If ya get annoying though, yer banned from talking to us”

Hinata nods his head enthusiastically “Okay!”

“And if yer not good enough by next year, yer not allowed to say ya know us.” Osamu adds.

Atsumu nods “Yeah, can’t let anyone think we play with scrubs.”

Hinata nods again, bowing this time “Yes! Anything! I’ll work so hard.”

“So, tomorrow then?” Osamu asks. Atsumu nods. “Ya know how ta get to Inarizaki?”

Hinata shakes his head “I can look it up when I get home! What time?”

Atsumu purses his lips, cutting in before Osamu can say anything “5pm, after our team training session is over. Meet us at gates, we’ll sneak ya in.”

Osamu heaves a sigh “As payment this time, bring us a snack” He says, eyeing Hinata.

Hinata only grins, bobbing his head in a nod “Yeah of course! I’ll bring you something tasty.” He chirps, giving them a thumbs up. And then he looks at his phone for the time and he gasps “Oh no! I need to get home! I have to watch Natsu!” And then he’s so focused on scrambling to throw his garbage out, picking up his bag, not tripping, that he almost forgets to thank the twins.

At the last second before he bolts across the street back to the bike racks he whirls around, bowing deeply again “Thank you so much Atsumu-san and Osamu-san! You made my worst volleyball day ever into the best one!” And then he gives them that bright grin, before darting across the road to collect his bike. He gives them a final wave as he speeds away down the street.

The twins watch him go for a moment before Osamu slides him a look “What?”

Osamu sighs, starting to walk back to the train station so they can get home “I dunno whatcha were thinking.”

“I thought he was kinda nice.” Atsumu says. Osamu gives him a flat stare, making Atsumu snort “Also, it’d be kinda cool to shape spiker exactly as I want him, right?”

Osamu rolls his eyes “Yer not some creepy puppet master, ya drip”

Atsumu grins “If ya wanted to be jealous, ya could always try turning into a setter yerself” Osamu scoffs “Oh, wait, I’m better ‘n you”

“Spiking is cooler anyways.” Osamu huffs “Shouyou-kun, huh?”

Atsumu grins “If he gets annoying we can ignore him easy, you’ll see”

“Sure.” Osamu hums, before eyeing the plastic bag in Atsumu’s hand “Ya gonna share that when we get home?”

Atsumu turns to his twin, a smug grin on his face “Nope” he says popping the p, dodging the swipe Osamu tries to give him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, for the love of all things holy, you need to check out [this comic](https://twitter.com/gaiadage/status/1354711448400744450?s=20) beautifully rendered by [Gaiadage](https://twitter.com/gaiadage). Words cannot express how perfect it is. I love it so so much. This is _EXACTLY_ how I pictured the twins meeting Hinata. 
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/boomturkeyao3)


	2. A challenger approaches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I guess we all needed a bit of Inarizaki!Hinata in our lives, hey? 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading.
> 
> Quick note: This AU is going to be part of a series focusing on different periods of time in Hinata's life with Inarizaki. Fox in the Hole focuses on the year before Hinata comes to Inarizaki. Other stories in this series will focus on his time at Inarizaki and on the team. 
> 
> When I was plotting this out I couldn't help but think that there was no way Hinata would have made Inarizaki as he was at the beginning of the series with Karasuno. So he needed a little bit of extra help - thus secret training with Atsumu and Osamu was born. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Hinata is just as voracious as Atsumu when it comes to volleyball, and after their fourth secret training session with the kid Osamu is regretting suggesting they practice with him.

Kind of.

Osamu usually regrets it most after his legs feel like jello from too many squats during Saturday training sessions, when Hinata shows up at the Inarizaki gate practically vibrating in anticipation. The way he bounces around the court and eagerly responds to anything the twins say would be exhausting under normal circumstances. But when Osamu is already tired after training? Downright unbearable.

Osamu still shows up though, and not just because Atsumu would be annoying as hell if he bailed. Hinata is... well, he’s a lot for one thing. Sometimes uncontrollably loud and excitable. Prone to loud declarations of grandeur, undercut by his lack of ability. The way he puffs up indignantly when Osamu or his brother tease him. The way he throws himself into any task giving it his all, just so long as it means Atsumu will toss for him one more time.

It’s not all unpleasant. There’s something in the way his whole face lights when he succeeds. The way he listens intently. The way he focuses so intently on doing a good job. How he’ll try and try again until he finally understands a concept. His drive to constantly learn more. His hunger. It’d be unnerving if it weren’t kind of also inspiring. Watching Hinata play kind of made Osamu want to try hard too.

It also helps that Hinata brings the best snacks.

That first day, the day after they’d met him, Hinata had shown up with a bento in hand and an eager grin on his face. He’d opened the box and handed it to the twins, their eyes going wide with excitement. Hinata had brought them tamagoyaki. Homemade tamagoyaki, he proudly announced as they shoved pieces of perfectly rolled eggs into their mouths.

Osamu’s eyes widened upon tasting it. Without a doubt it was the best damned tamagoyaki he’d ever had “Can I get the recipe?” He’d asked moments after swallowing, already reaching for another. Hinata had already thought ahead and had written it down for them, handing Osamu an envelope with carefully written instructions on it.

Osamu was still stunned the kid had brought homemade snacks, and not like, store bought cookies or something like he’d been expecting. Osamu should have realized he’d already thawed on the kid when he saw that hopeful expression on Hinata’s face, asking if they liked it. It had been endearing in it’s own way. As had been the pleased smile and flush on Hinata’s cheeks as Osamu and Atsumu emphatically nodded their heads, demanding more tamagoyaki for their troubles next week.

Delicious eggs aside, Osamu still didn’t quite have an explanation for what had driven Atsumu to seek Hinata out after that abysmal match. They’d seen other flash bulb players before. Players with a single unique talent who were otherwise mediocre in so many other dimensions. Hinata had a ridiculous jump, and he was faster than any other player Osamu had ever seen, but he had none of the requisite skills to make him actually good at volleyball.

Also it was Atsumu who’d started all of this, and he was a notoriously selfish jerk who didn’t get along with anyone. Osamu was still trying to fully flesh out the angle on what Atsumu was getting out of this little friendship with Hinata. Because if he wasn’t getting anything then Atsumu was being pretty altruistic with his time and that - well, it’d certainly be the most out of character behaviour Osamu had ever seen out of his brother.

Hinata needed a ton of work to get him up to even middling level, and it seemed to Osamu like maybe Atsumu was setting them all up for failure. There was no way Mr. Shitty Overhand Passes was going to make Inarizaki next year. He’d be lucky to make the practice pool of players who never got a jersey.

Hell, barring having Atsumu set for him, even Hinata’s spiking wasn’t super great. Osamu was no slouch when it came to setting, but he wasn’t his brother. When he tossed the ball for Hinata, his spiking accuracy which had steadily increased in their practice sessions, fell abruptly. Hinata, despite his incredible athleticism, had no ability to make adjustments mid-air. Or at least to make good adjustments mid-air. He could twist and contort himself every which way after a jump, but usually to no useful purpose.

After two weeks of a surprising amount of patience, Atsumu finally blew his lid last week because Hinata had begun closing his eyes while he was spiking, his accuracy shooting through the roof. Atsumu had stopped mid practice to bean Hinata in the head with a ball “The heck are ya closin’ yer eyes for?”

Hinata stuck out his lower lip defiantly, shrugging his shoulders “But my spikes get better when I close my eyes!”

“So? Good players don’t close their eyes when they spike!” Atsumu had yelled, stomping over to get in Hinata’s face. Osamu had almost come over to intervene, but Hinata had puffed up right back at Atsumu not backing down.

“But I’m better if you control where I hit!” Hinata said hotly, glaring up at Atsumu.

Osamu watched his brother flex his hands like he wanted to strangle the kid “It’s not how it’s done!”

“But I trust you!” Hinata said petulantly.

The shock on Atsumu’s face had almost made Osamu guffaw out loud, silently wishing Suna were here to film the interaction. The surprise quickly turned to rage as Atsumu clamped hands down on Hinata’s shoulders and shook him a bit “I give ya good tosses so ya got options in the air Shouyou-kun! None of this one type of attack bullshit”

And then Hinata made Atsumu explain himself, about how great setters give their attackers options, none of this weak sauce one trick pony bullshit, which was what a blind spike would be. Achieving some level of understanding, they quickly moved past it, Atsumu helping Hinata work through his timing in the air.

It was funny, watching Atsumu like this. Over the years Osamu had become something of a peacemaker between his brother and the other players around them. Atsumu had always been obnoxious in his confidence and his willingness to tell other players when they’d fucked up. Most teams liked to win, so they put up with Atsumu, but no one had ever really gotten along with his brother. Especially not when he was excessively blunt in his criticisms.

Not until Hinata.

For one thing, outside of Osamu himself, Hinata was the only other person he’d seen consistently talk back to Atsumu when he was being an asshole. Most people cowered or walked away when Atsumu became belligerent. Hinata would set his shoulders, tip his head up and glare up at Atsumu and snap back, turning Atsumu’s criticisms into a heated debate instead of insults. Or, what was more often the case, Hinata would say he didn’t understand what Atsumu meant, making his brother blink in surprise, and then in a more polite, if strained, tone explain what his expectations were and how Hinata should meet them.

For another, as Hinata got better and more consistent with his hits, he was the only person Osamu had ever seen outlast Atsumu on the court. Hinata buzzed around the gym, always eager for one more toss. Osamu was usually the one to call practices off, complaining that he was hungry, or he should reserve his energy more because they had a big practice coming up on Monday.

Last Sunday though Hinata had been practically tireless, despite the sweat pouring off of him, spiking toss after toss. Atsumu had eventually been the one to throw in the towel, demanding a break. He laid on the ground next to Osamu, complaining with a big doofy grin on his face about how much stamina Hinata had. To Osamu it sounded more like bragging, just with a whiney edge. Their little stamina monster was still on the court doing overhand passing drills to himself, a look of supreme focus on his face.

Hinata making Atsumu exhausted was more than enough reason for Osamu to keep coming to these practices. It meant his brother was less restless when they got home and didn’t have the energy to be annoying before supper and then bed. That and the eggs. Hinata brought incredible eggs.

Osamu had taken the tamagoyaki recipe Hinata had given him home, shooed his mother out of the kitchen, and set to work trying to replicate Hinata’s magic eggy goodness. When he was done Atsumu bullied his way into the kitchen and they both sampled the end result, chewing thoughtfully.

“Samu, ‘s not the same” Atsumu said unkindly, despite using his chopsticks to pick up another piece and shoving it into his mouth.

Osamu gave his brother an unimpressed look, but couldn’t bring himself to get mad. He was right, it wasn’t the same. Osamu picked up the hand written recipe, squinting at it, and then evaluating the ingredients he hadn’t yet put away strewn about the counters. The ingredients were right... Maybe Hinata did something with ratios of dashi to mirin? Sometimes his granny ignored what a recipe called for, instead using however much seasoning she thought was right.

He experimented throughout the week, getting himself yelled at by their mom for using too many eggs. Osamu went to the store, a man possessed, intent on figuring out what he was getting wrong. He tried substituting kombu dashi for regular. He spent some of his own allowance to spring for fancy mirin. He even tried swiping some of his parents sake to see if that did anything. Nothing. None of it was right.

By the following Saturday for their next training session with Hinata, Osamu was absolutely convinced he’d imagined how good the tamagoyaki Hinata made was. It was probably because he was hungry after weight lifting or something. That must be it. His granny always said hunger was the best seasoning in the world.

Hinata held the open bento box up to the twins, Osamu grabbing a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. He abruptly collapsed to his knees in front of Hinata the moment the egg hit his tongue. Atsumu, like an animal, grabbed a handful of egg shoving it into his open maw as he continued on towards the storage room to grab a ball cart, unbothered by Osamu’s dramatics. Hinata bounced from foot to foot staring at Osamu anxiously.

“Are you okay?” Hinata asked, his free hand fluttering, as if to grab Osamu’s shoulder.

Osamu tipped his head up to look at the sneaky egg spirit disguised as an endearing middle schooler “How?” Was all he could manage to ask.

“How what?”

Osamu wiped a hand down his face, using the other to grab another piece of tamagoyaki and stuffed it into his face. Osamu was certain his expression was torn somewhere between rapturous and pained “How did you make this so good?”

Hinata paused, tilting his head “I gave you the recipe last week though?”

Osamu made an undignified noise in the back of his throat. Pushing to a stand, he looked down at Hinata and placed his hands on his shoulders. And then thought about it, letting a hand drift down to grab another piece of tamagoyaki. He only spoke once he’s swallowed “I’ve tried so many times with so many different ingredients and I can’t get them to taste this good,” He squeezed Hinata’s shoulders meaningfully “How?”

Hinata blinked and then pursed his lips, squinting his eyes in thought, and then he blinked again “Oh! What eggs are you using?”

Now it’s Osamu’s turn to purse his lips “Eggs from the store?” Is this a trick question?

Hinata beamed “I bet that’s the problem! We raise chickens at home, so the eggs I use are always fresh!” And then he leans forward conspiratorially “And we treat our chickens waaaay better than they do at some factory farm. Stress levels and quality of feed definitely have an impact on the flavour of eggs a chicken produces.”

Osamu gaped. This was not the solution he was expecting for his problem. His hands lift from Hinata's shoulders “You have chickens?” Hinata nods “Like pets?”

Hinata grins “Yeah! My mom calls them ‘the girls’” Which is kind of cute really. He pulls out his phone from his bag and pulls open his photo app, showing Osamu a picture of chickens in a variety of colours “Here they are!” He points around the photo naming each and every one of them. And they don’t have names Osamu would expect. They’re named things like ‘Fumiko’ and ‘Katsuya’ and ‘Chiharu’ and one incongruously called ‘All-Might’

“Because I really like Boku no Hero Academia” Hinata explains.

“Can you bring me some?” Osamu asks, dead serious.

Hinata looks stricken “One of the girls?”

“Are ya housewives done gossipin’ about recipes yet? I wanna set some tosses” Atsumu complained at them as he wheeled the ball cart out onto the court.

Osamu flips him off, turning to look back at Hinata “No, I meant eggs. Can you bring me eggs?”

Hinata looked relieved for a moment before he winced “Uh, I can, but then I can’t make you tamagoyaki then. We only have so many extra eggs.”

Osamu stops himself from grabbing Hinata’s hand to let him know it’s alright, but it’s a near thing. Instead he gave Hinata a lopsided smile “That’s okay, being paid in eggs would be kinda cool.” He leans in, echoing Hinata’s conspiratorial tone from earlier “Besides, I wanna try these magic chicken-pet eggs in lots of different food.”

Hinata’s gaze brightens as he flushes in delight “Yeah! That sounds great! I’ll bring you a dozen next week.”

Atsumu slouches over to them, looking irritated to have been ignored for so long “A dozen what?”

“Eggs” Hinata and Osamu chirp simultaneously.

Atsumu rolled his eyes “Whatever, just so long as ya keep the tamagoyaki comin’. Now c’mon. Tossin’ time!”

Hinata grimaced “Err, well it’s either eggs or I bring you tamagoyaki, and Osamu-san just asked-”

Atsumu whirled around, glaring at Osamu “Don’t go changin’ our deal! I want tamagoyaki!”

Osamu waved a hand at his brother dismissing him “This is better, you’ll see”

“I ain’t eating raw egg by ‘em self ‘Samu” Atsumu huffed, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. His gaze slid over to Hinata, assessing “You read BNHA?”

Hinata grins “Yeah! In Jump every week!”

Atsumu shrugs, trying to look mulish and failing “That’s cool I guess” And then he snaps “Now get yer asses in gear. We got things ta work on”

When Hinata arrives for his third weekend training session with them the following week he brings a carton of a dozen eggs, boasting that he cleaned them himself that morning, presenting them to the twins. Atsumu was still pissy about not getting edible food now, but Osamu was delighted, eager to try the eggs when he got home later.

“I recommend using them for tamago kake gohan first, to really get a taste for the difference” Hinata beamed at them with his hands tucked behind his back as he rocked back and forth on his heels “It’s my favorite!”

Atsumu sniffed “I like fatty tuna.”

Osamu gave Hinata a lazy grin “Everything is my favorite. Thanks Shouyou-kun I’m excited to try it.”

Turns out Hinata was right. When he got home later that evening, cracking an egg over his rice, Osamu discovered that this really was the best way to have the best egg he’s ever tasted. Atsumu sulkily agreed that this was a good way for Hinata to repay them, enjoying his own eggy rice enough for a second helping that night.

* * *

Something is different, and Aran can’t quite put his finger on why. Practices have been going more smoothly than they ever have before. He wants to think it’s because everyone is taking Inter-High Nationals coming up super seriously, but given how the twins had been behaving up until recently he doesn’t think that’s true.

Up until a little over a month ago Atsumu had no patience for people screwing up in practice, whether they be starters, or the lowliest of un-jersey-ed benchwarmers. Freely snapping and yelling at anyone who didn’t properly utilize his tosses. Or worked hard enough. Or got in his way. Or took too long. Or... you get the picture. And then Aran had witnessed the strangest thing in practice earlier this week.

A first year benchwarmer had gone in for a spike, hesitating to get too close to the net, despite Atsumu’s toss being great as always. Atsumu had turned, expression pinched in irritation, and Aran awaited the inevitable cutting remark Atsumu was going to unleash that was going to emotionally scar the poor kid. Instead Atsumu gave an irritated sigh and looked at the sheepish first year “Not used ta jumping so close to the net, huh?”

The first year had squeaked and nodded his head, face flushed.

Atsumu had rolled his eyes “Ya gotta practice getting more comfortable with it” He said, only a little irritated, and turned to Coach Oomi, who was staring at the interaction in slack jawed surprise. “Maybe we should get one of the reserve setters to help him with that?” Atsumu asked lazily, thumbing over his shoulder at the spiker.

Aran exchanged a surprised glance with Akagi, neither of them having ever seen Atsumu use restraint, or be helpful to anyone he would otherwise deem a scrub.

Stranger still, Aran had overheard Osamu talking to Suna later that week during stretches. They were discussing player growth, and weaknesses on the team. Kosaku and Ginjima came up, Suna giving Osamu a side eye as he described how they weren’t playing any differently than when they’d joined the team. Aran had waited for Osamu’s usual mean laugh, which was typical when Atsumu or Suna said something particularly cutting that was just the ‘truth’ that no one wanted to speak out loud.

Aran debated with himself about whether it would be worth it to to go scold them, when Osamu decided to surprise him “Yer lookin’ at their growth too narrowly” Suna’s startled expression probably mirrored the one on Aran’s face “Gin’s court sense is getting real good, he knows how to predict where the ball is moving at any given time. And Yuto-kun’s serve is getting deadly as hell. Better’n you and me”

Osamu was the ‘nice’ and ‘humble’ Miya twin. Though that was just in comparison to how prickly and unlikable Atsumu could be sometimes. In all the years Aran had known Osamu, he had never heard the ‘nice’ twin compare his skills disfavorably against another player. At least not out loud. That just invited Atsumu to one up him, which Osamu couldn’t abide. Nor had he ever really known Osamu to actually pay attention to the other players at practice, except to laugh and occasionally cheer when he was really impressed. Suna looked downright disturbed, and Aran wholeheartedly agreed.

He glanced across the gym to where the other second years were stretching and laughing, Ginjima and Kosaku among them. Osamu was right. That’s exactly how Aran would have described their growth in the last few months. They’d been working hard and it was gradually paying off. They’d be recognized for it, if not this year, then most likely the next if they continued on this trajectory.

What exactly had happened to the Miya twins in the last month?

Aran had tried asking Kita at lunch one day “Do you know what’s going on?”

Kita blinked at him, tilting his head “They’re closer to you than to me Aran-kun” Aran rubbed at the back of his neck. True, but Kita was a lot more observant than he was.

“Perhaps they’re finally starting to get into the team spirit?” Omimi asked from Kita’s side. At least Aran didn’t have to dignify that with an answer. Akagi didn’t bother looking up from his PSP as he snorted derisively at the suggestion. Just yesterday the twins had gotten into a shouting match that had Atsumu nearly tearing the sleeve off Osamu’s t-shirt over some perceived slight.

Aran didn’t know how to bring it up with the twins though. Atsumu was the exact type of contrary personality that if you pointed out a new behaviour as favorable, he’d immediately start doing the opposite to spite you. Osamu would probably become self conscious and clam right back up, going back into his dazed and bored fugue, disinterested in the world around him. So instead Aran tried to thank his lucky stars that the twins were apparently starting to grow up, and that Aran got to reap some of the fruits of that good fortune.

He was so preoccupied by his thoughts that after their Saturday training session, he forgot to grab the extra bento his dad packed for him that morning for after practice. He was nearly a quarter of the way home, thinking deeply about what snacks he’d eat when he got home, when he remembered the protein heavy bento left in his gym locker. He debated for half a second if he could just leave it until Monday, before remembering the egg and chicken that would inevitably go rancid, stinking up the whole locker room over the weekend.

Cursing to himself Aran ran back to school, hoping to find Shizuoka-senpai in the library, already studying for his university entrance exams. As vice-captain he should hopefully have a key. It was just past six pm, so chances were pretty even whether he’d still be there. Aran gave a relieved smile when he found his senpai just packing up his books, ready to go home.

“Senpai, sorry to interrupt.” Aran said, bobbing a little bow as Shizuoka walked out of the library, blinking in surprise to find Aran outside waiting for him “I left something in my gym locker. Do you mind if I borrow the key to get it? I can run back to bring it to you, or be here extra early on Monday to return-”

Shizuoka snorted, shouldering his bag and starting to walk down the hall, Aran followed after him “I don’t have it,” Aran’s mouth fell open in surprise “The key.” his senpai clarified.

“But you’re the vice-captain!”

Shizuoka sighed through his nose, looking at Aran out of the corner of his eye “Sure, but I don’t want to be assed by the twins every time they want to stay needlessly late or come in to practice on Sundays” He shrugged.

“The twins have the key?” Aran asked concerned, before breathing in sharply as his words sunk in “The twins are doing extra training on weekends?” When they’re explicitly forbidden from doing so, so that their bodies could rest.

“Yeah, and Saturday evenings, each one for the last month or so” Shizuoka shrugged again, making it to the stairs and starting to descend “I just ended up giving them my key, figured it was easier than them pestering me every Saturday”

Aran dogged his heels “But senpai, they should be resting!”

Shizuoka stopped abruptly, Aran nearly colliding with his back. He heaved a sigh, turning to look at Aran “Look Ojiro,” He began, shaking his head “I don’t know why you’re friends with them, they’re pretty obnoxious, but whatever, it’s probably good that you care, I guess.” He looked off to the side before sliding his opaque gaze back to Aran “The twins, they aren’t quite human like you and me. They want to play, they’re going to play. It’s our job as regular people to get out of their way.” He rubs a hand at the back of his neck “There was another one of ‘em when I was a first year and he was a third year. A real monster. You just gotta let them be”

Aran opened his mouth to reply, but couldn’t find the words. The twins were good. Great even. Especially together. But he’d never understood this need for people to put them on a pedestal. They worked just as hard as anyone else, often times harder, to get where they were. It was evident in the way Atsumu demanded excellence from the people around him, even if he was abrasive about it. Raising the twins above everyone else made them far more intimidating than they actually were. Or maybe Aran just had the privilege of knowing them when they were snot nosed kids and not the infamous Miya twins.

Sometimes Aran wondered if it must be a bit lonely for the twins, being placed so high above everyone else. Apart.

Aran’s mouth gave a rueful twist “Are they in the gym now?”

Shizuoka shrugged “Probably” He said blandly “Seeya later Ojiro.” He called, waving over his shoulder as he made his way to the entryway of the school building.

Aran let out a breath, watching his senpai go, before turning on his heel and stomping with intent towards the gymnasium. He was going to give those damned twins a real earful. They knew they should be resting. It had been leg day today! How could they possibly have any energy to keep practicing? And they’d been doing this for weeks? If his senpai wouldn’t set the twins straight, then Aran certainly would! Even if Kita wasn’t here to help intimidate them. They were still growing! Maybe that’s what he should lead with, stunting their growth, that might scare them enough to go home.

Rounding the corner Aran made it to the doors leading out to the covered path towards the practice building. As he stepped outside he could hear the telltale smack of a volleyball hitting the ground, and then the hooting cheers of the twins. If Aran were paying closer attention he might have noticed a third voice, chirping higher than the twins, but Aran was a man on a mission. He would be a good senpai to these idiots yet!

Reaching the door, Aran flung it open dramatically, mouth opening in a shout “HEY-” And abruptly cut himself off as he took in the scene. Osamu stood across the court, in a receiving stance. Atsumu was setting. And flying through the air was a very small child with a mop of orange hair. Everyone turned to stare at Aran, as he stared back. The ball Atsumu had just set sailed through the air, nailing the small kid in the side of the head with a thwap.

The twins hissed in sympathy at once. The kid landed on his feet clutching his ear, grimace on his face “Owwww” He whined.

Atsumu trotted over “Ah, sorry about that Shouyou-kun.” He said giving this mystery kid a little hair ruffle.

“‘S my fault, I should have kept my eye on the ball.” The kid grumbled, still rubbing his smarting ear. Surprising Aran, Atsumu’s grin went wide and he gave a small laugh, nodding his head in approval.

“Hey Aran-kun.” Osamu called, crossing under the net and giving Aran a lazy wave.

“Hi.” Aran said in automatic response, brows knit together as he looked between the three faces staring back at him.

“Whatcha up to?” Atsumu asked, tilting his head curiously.

Aran stared at him blankly, having entirely forgotten what had brought him to the gym in the first place. To yell at the twins for overworking themselves. And then he’d seen a small child somehow fly through the air, higher than any player his height should have been able to. But there had been something else, the reason he’d come back to school at all...

“Bento” He said faintly.

Osamu’s eyes lit up “Do you have one?” Aran stared at him confused.

“Oh man, don’t talk about food, I’m so hungry.” Atsumu complained, clutching his stomach.

The small kid- Shouyou-kun, Aran corrected himself, grimaced “I’m sorry, we can stop.”

Aran opened his mouth to ask who exactly this kid was, and what he was doing with the twins, when Atsumu snorted.

“Nuh-uh, you said you wouldn’t leave until ya got 5 spikes in a row past ‘Samu, we ain’t done yet.” And the expression on Atsumu’s face was... He still had his usual smug smirk on his face, but there was something in the tilt of his brow and the expression in his eyes, that he looked happy, maybe proud? Fond at the very least. Aran had never seen an expression like that on Atsumu’s face before.

Aran whipped his head around to Osamu to see if he’d witnessed his twin being weird, but Osamu was doing it too. And honestly, who the hell was this kid? Finding his voice Aran parroted what he was thinking “Who is this?” Aran asked, gesturing with an open palm at this Shouyou-kun.

The kid snapped to attention, eyes going wide “I’m sorry! That was rude. I’m Hinata Shouyou.” He said, bobbing a bow in greeting.

Behind him Atsumu snorted “No need to be so formal, it’s just Aran-kun.” Aran scowled at him, which Atsumu pointedly ignored, sauntering over to stand next to Aran, slapping a hand down his shoulder “This here is Ojiro Aran, the Inarizaki ace” Aran pressed his lips together. Technically that distinction was supposed to go to Shizuoka, though Aran and Osamu frequently racked up more points each in games than he did.

“He’s really good.” Osamu offered, still giving Aran hopeful eyes, probably still looking for that bento.

Aran batted Atsumu’s hand away, turning to stare at Hinata, who was now watching him, eyes glittering “You’re the ace?” He asked breathlessly.

Aran shifted uncomfortably “These guys talk too much,” He rubbed at the back of his neck “Anyways, how do-”

“Can I watch you spike?” Hinata asked, eyes going wide and hopeful, his cheeks a bit pink. His fists clenched in front of him.

“Errr...”

“I’ve just never seen a real live ace spike in person before, and if you play for Inarizaki you must be really really good.” Hinata said, a bit more shyly, though his eyes still shined with hope.

Aran’s mouth clicked shut, his protest dying on his lips “Uh, just one, but then, we need to have a talk.” Hinata was bouncing in place, before bounding off to the side of the court to watch.

“Oooh, Shouyou-kun is good at manipulating Aran-kun” Atsumu stage whispered to Osamu who snorted a laugh, setting up to receive again. Aran didn’t even have the mental acuity to glare at them, so baffled by this entire interaction was he.

Still not entirely sure why he was doing it, Aran lined up at the end of the court, ball in hand, glancing at Hinata, before glowering at Atsumu and Osamu, and their matching smirks “Damned twins” He muttered under his breath, tossing the ball up for Atsumu.

“I heard that!” Atsumu chirped, a big grin on his face as he took the ball and placed it perfectly for Aran’s approach. Aran slammed the ball down, with as much force as he was able to, sending it right at Osamu, unprepared for the power behind the ball, sending it rocketing off to the side.

Osamu gave a low whistle, rubbing at his stinging forearms “Think we’re about to get yelled at ‘Sumu.” He said dryly.

Aran squinted his eyes at Osamu, quirking his jaw to the side, ready to do just that, when a blur of orange was leaping in the air in front of him, making Aran take a step back in surprise “That was amazing! Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen a more powerful spike in my life! You are so cool Ojiro-san! It’s like you were hanging in the air forever like Shwaaa~! And then you hit the ball like BAP! And it hit Osamu-san like SHWAM! You’re so amazing!” He didn’t stop for a breath or stop jumping the whole time.

Aran gave the twins a startled look, both of them just looking pleased at this interaction for some reason. Aran was embarrassed to realize his heart was giving a little glow of pride, feeling pleased. He hadn’t had someone effusively compliment him like this since his first year of middle school. Letting out a breath, Aran cut his arms sharply through the air, surprising Hinata enough to stop his jumping “Alright! Enough! We’re going to have a little chat.”

“Oooooooh~” The twins cooed teasingly, earning themselves a glare from Aran, before he looked less severely down at Hinata “All of us.”

“Can you bring that bento at least?” Osamu asked hopefully.

Aran heaved a defeated sigh, putting his face in his hands before he shook his head “Fine, but!” He whirled on the twins who were about to start cheering “Clean up the gym or you won’t get any.” And felt a bit of satisfaction at the put upon looks they were giving him.

“But! My spikes!” Hinata whined, tugging at the hem of his own shirt. Aran gave him a flat look which shut him up “Yes senpai.” he mumbled, ducking his head in apology.

“Good.” And Aran stomped into the locker room, giving himself a few minutes to collect his thoughts, washing his hands, and collecting the bento. Finally ready to tell the twins what for and figure out who the hell Hinata Shouyou was.

~~~

“So you met at the Inter-Middle tournament when you two were supposed to be supporting Yako Middle?” Aran asks, rubbing at his chin, sitting in the grass outside the gym, the twins and Hinata creating a circle with him. The mostly eaten bento in the middle between them. They had relocated, Aran making Atsumu lock the gym up so they couldn’t keep practicing. It was almost 7pm now and they all needed their rest.

“We did support Yako Middle.” Atsumu says defensively, licking his fingers from the chicken he’d finished eating. Hinata’s face scrunched up, indicating he didn’t necessarily agree with that statement.

Aran couldn’t help the amused tilt settling on his lips “They heckled both teams, didn’t they?”

Hinata blinked, surprised to be addressed before he gave a small smile and nodded “They were especially bad about the best server at Yako Middle, called him goony” The twins squawked, both of them reaching to ruffle Hinata’s hair and poke at him, calling him a tattle tale. Hinata struggled to bat them away, laughing.

Poor Riseki. Poor guy had never done anything to deserve the twins. Though neither had Aran.

“And you’ve been coming every Saturday and Sunday to practice together for the last couple of weeks?” Aran asks, the wrestling match across from him abruptly stopping.

“Yep!” The twins say in unison.

“It’s been amazing” Hinata says a little breathlessly, his eyes practically glittering. He’s sitting in a perfect seiza, hands tucked into his lap, periodically ripping a piece of grass up to fiddle with it. The twins are in their usual messy spawls, legs stretched out, half laying down in the grass. Seriously, are they really friends? They seem like friends. But Hinata seems so nice and polite and the twins are so... them.

“You know you’re supposed to be resting.” Aran chides them, sucking on his teeth.

Atsumu looks away, pout coming onto his face “Yeah, but it’s not like we’re going that hard”

“Yeah.” Osamu agrees.

“That’s not true, last week you were so tired you laid on the ground while I had to clean up around you.” Hinata says, brows pinched together.

Atsumu flushes, reaching up a hand to push at Hinata’s face, trying to quiet him “Shut yer trap ya goody goody!”

Aran heaves a sigh, watching the mini wrestling match in front of him, as Hinata tries and fails to push Atsumu off of him. Wiping a hand down his face Aran asks “Why?”

Once again Atsumu stops wrestling, staring at Aran in confusion “Why what?”

“Why practice when you’re supposed to be resting?”

The twins seem to ponder this a moment before Osamu speaks up “We’d be practicin’ anyways at home. It’s better to do it in a gym.”

“Yeah, it’s better to do it with a regulation net” Atsumu agrees.

Aran groans. Why are the twins so difficult sometimes? He doesn’t know how to ask with the kid sitting right there, but what Aran actually wants to know is why the twins bothered going to all the trouble for this particular kid in the first place? Do they really only know him from the middle school tournament? Because they’re awfully familiar and comfortable with him. In the time since they’ve sat outside Hinata has even laughed at a few of Atsumu’s jokes, which no one but Osamu does. Ever.

“No, I mean, you started this up pretty recently, right?” Aran asks, waiting for the three of them to nod “I just don’t understand why?”

The twins exchange a look, what Aran likes to call twin psychic communication, and then turn to face Aran again “We wanted Shouyou-kun to get better” Osamu says by way of explanation.

“Yeah he really sucks” Atsumu chimes in.

“Yeah, his spiking needs a ton of work”

“And his receives are shit”

“And he can’t block to save his life”

“I’ve seen ten year olds that serve better”

“But his overhand passes are getting better.” Osamu offers charitably. While the twins were going back and forth Hinata had been wilting further and further, until his head was nearly pressed down to the ground. His shoulders are shaking and Aran can’t tell if it’s with laughter, shame, or anger.

Atsumu reaches a hand out, patting Hinata’s head a bit too forcefully, making his forehead bonk into the grass “That’s why me ‘n ‘Samu are training him up.” He’s wearing a big proud grin as he says it.

Osamu smacks Atsumu’s hand away, pulling Hinata upright again. The poor kid looks a bit shell shocked “Don’t worry Shouyou-kun, yer spikes are gettin’ better too” Osamu says, trying to be encouraging, dusting grass out of his hair.

Atsumu glowers at his brother “It’s his timing is gettin’ better.”

Osamu scoffs “Same difference.”

Hinata still looks like part of his soul left his body, not processing the brewing argument in front of him. Aran is just staring at the twins with his mouth hanging open. Was this where the encouraging (for them) team oriented Miya’s came from? This mystery kid who came out of nowhere?

Instead of counting his blessings and leaving well enough alone, Aran opens his mouth. He needs to understand why this came about. Why did the twins change? Who was Hinata to them? “But why go through all this trouble for him?” Aran asks, gesturing at Hinata, who just blinks in surprise. Aran feels bad the second the question is out of his mouth. He doesn’t want to imply Hinata isn’t special, just he wants to know how the twins think he’s special, enough to dramatically change their behaviour. To maybe actually be a bit nice?

Though Hinata doesn’t look offended, just curious. Maybe he’s wondered the same thing, twisting his head to look between the twins. Atsumu and Osamu are once again giving each other appraising looks before turning back to Aran.

Atsumu shrugs “Just cause.” Osamu nods.

Aran makes an undignified wheezing sound, ready to give up, and let the twins have their mystery, when Hinata speaks up “Ah, Ojiro-san-”

“You can call me Aran.”

Hinata cringes, which seems to amuse the twins, tipping his head up to the sky “Why’re you all so familiar here?” He grumbles before he sucks in a breath “I moved here from Miyagi pretty recently, and I haven’t had anyone to really play volleyball with” He ducks his head then “It was pretty lonely” He says it so softly, not like he’s asking for pity, just stating a fact. The twins' faces smooth out into something aiming for blank but is far too uncomfortable for that. Neither of them had ever been particularly good at concealing their feelings, it’s why people didn’t tend to like them very much.

But then Hinata raises his gaze to look at Aran, his eyes burning with something fervent and determined “I want to play volleyball, I want to be the next tiny giant, I want to be the best player I can be” He tilts his chin up almost defiantly “And Atsumu-san and Osamu-san were kind enough to offer to help me reach the top.” And now the twins are wearing matching smug grins, beaming at Aran too.

Aran blinks. In part at the statement, and the way he said it, but also because he doesn’t think anyone has ever referred to either of the twins as kind. He doesn’t know how to answer that. So instead he just stares mutely, processing.

Atsumu sits up to throw an arm over Hinata shoulders “He’s got lotsa stuff ta work on, but ya ain’t seen anything until ya’ve seen him jump.”

Osamu leans over too, draping a hand over Hinata’s head “He’s crazy fast too.” Osamu petting Hinata's hair a little.

“Is this like a pet thing?” Aran asks, a bit dumbly. Both of the twins look upwards thoughtfully, while Hinata squawks indignantly underneath them. Realizing what he just said out loud, Aran covers his face and bows low “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that!”

Hinata’s hands are fluttering in front of him, trying to coax Aran up again. “It’s okay Aran....-senpai” Hinata wheezes after a moment. Aran looks up at him, seeing that he really wasn’t offended. Aran is relieved. “I have a lot to work on, but even so it’s nice getting to play with my friends, right?” And then he gives Aran a wide beaming grin.

A bit starstruck, Aran barely has time to process the touched looks that spasm across the twin’s faces before he leans forward to grab one of Hinata’s flailing hands “Can I help?”

Atsumu and Osamu throw their arms into the air in unison “Uwah!”

The sparkles are back in Hinata’s eyes “Really!?” He’s leaning forward intently, a flush to his cheeks, as his eyes shine with hope. If he regularly stares at the twins with that expression, Aran might finally have an inkling of why the twins have bothered to help this kid. It’s electrifying. Like you’ve been granted the privilege of being his hero.

Finally catching himself, Aran let’s go of Hinata’s hand, rubbing at the back of his neck “Uh, yeah, I have to make sure these two dummies aren’t going too hard in their extracurricular practice.” Hinata nods eagerly, wiggling a bit in his seat.

“Ya think we could put that on our resumes?” Osamu asks.

“Wazzat ‘Samu?”

“If this is an extracurricular?” Osamu points at Hinata.

Catching on, Atsumu’s grin widens, sliding his gaze to Aran “Ooooh, is that why ya wanna help Aran-kun, something nice to put on yer college applications?”

Osamu shakes his head and sighs “That’s not very noble of ya Aran-kun”.

Aran can feel his cheeks heating, already regretting offering Hinata help if he has to deal with these two yahoos more to do so. He’s about to retort something when Hinata firmly grabs both of the twins by the side of their t-shirts “Be nice!” He scolds “Aran-senpai just agreed to help, don’t make him take it away!”

The twins make disgruntled noises, looking off to the side, but dropping the joke. Aran decides instantly that Hinata is his favorite kouhai he’ll ever have. He still doesn’t quite understand what this weird little friendship in front of him is, but if Hinata can actually scold the twins and get them to listen, he might be one of the most powerful people in Hyougo, second only to Kita.

Atsumu pushes up to a stand “So ya wanna get crackin’ now?” he asks, thumbing at the gym door, lazy grin on his face.

“I didn’t finish my spiking goal!” Hinata chirps, hopping up to stand too, smile on his face.

Osamu sighs, standing too “I guess I did finally eat enough to tide me over until supper” He brushes at the grass sticking to his shorts.

Aran stares at them, as they all watch him back expectantly. Pushing to a stand Aran chops a hand down with great finality “No! Absolutely not! You two! Go home and get rest.” The twins look pained, Aran turns to look at Hinata “You should go get some supper too, so you run along home too.”

Atsumu and Hinata both chorus “But!” While Osamu sighs. Aran only holds his hands up.

“No. We’re done for now. We’ll come back tomorrow” Hinata immediately brightens, nodding his head vigorously “And you two damn twins aren’t going to kill yourselves on the court, right?”

The twins exchange a look, Atsumu looking pissier of the two “No.” Though they don’t sound very committed to that promise.

“Good, now let’s go, c’mon” Aran says, turning on his heel, not waiting to see if the three boys follow him as he heads towards the school gate.

~~~

Aran helps out at the next three training sessions and is surprised to find he’s actually looking forward to them.

The twins have always gone hard at practice, Atsumu in particular has always been particularly obsessive about improving. But with Hinata they become much more measured in their approach to practice. Instead of a play being either good or bad by their standards, suddenly they’re looking for ways Hinata can improve: Can he change the angle of his approach, is he swinging his arm too soon, what part of his hand is he spiking with? And all of these lessons learned in secret weekend practice are translating positively to Inarizaki practices. Both of the twins will now regularly chime in, if a little bluntly, with ways for people to improve, instead of them just complaining about people unilaterally sucking.

Playing with Hinata is also fascinating, not just for the change he brings out of the twins, but also for how he motivates Aran. There’s something thrilling watching him deconstruct and learn new things each and every time he heads to the net. Osamu mumbles about it making him hungry which Aran didn’t initially get, but after watching Hinata hoot and holler for finally nailing a back row attack after trying for so long that particular Sunday. He gets it now. Hinata makes you hungry to be better yourself.

You see him spike a ball and you think ‘Yeah! Me too!’

Hinata still had a terribly long way to go. They’ve played a few two on two matches since Aran started joining in and that, more than anything, really demonstrates how much work Hinata still has to do. He apparently has only ever played in one official game and it shows. He’s all over the place on the court, doesn’t set himself up for defense properly, and his blocks are inconsistent and holey. His attacks are getting better and more consistent, especially if he’s playing with Atsumu, but he’s basically a huge liability on defense. Osamu cheerfully called Hinata a blackhole the other day, ruffling his hair.

But that doesn’t stop Hinata from trying. Or from bouncing with excitement every time they call for a two on two game. His desperate desire to play more, his excitement to be on the court, it’s all infectious. Hinata can’t help but bring a smile to Aran’s face. That and the eggs he brings are incredible.

When Aran brought his first half dozen home with him, his parents had been confused but accepting. Like Hinata had suggested he tried cracking an egg that night over his rice, his dad doing the same, and both of them nearly wept with how amazing it was. Neither of them had ever had eggs this good. His dad made him promise that he would do everything in his power to make sure the eggs kept coming.

Aran couldn’t keep the proud smile off his face in Inarizaki practices every time one of the twins behaved in a way that reflected something they learned working with Hinata. Watching Atsumu somewhat impatiently explain steps to another player, instead of yelling. Or seeing Osamu inserting himself into blocking practice to offer some tips on hand placement. It made Aran kind of emotional really. He never thought he’d see the day.

He briefly contemplated taking a video of Atsumu trying to tamp down his frustration explaining something to third year for the second time, to show Hinata later. To let him know what a positive change he’d had on the twins.

Only Hinata didn’t seem to think the twins were mean. In fact, outside of chiding them for being rude, or squawking indignantly when they rough housed with him too much, Hinata thought they were some of the nicest people he’d ever met. Aran had tried to explain only once to Hinata that the twins were in fact jerks.

Hinata had just bubbled a laugh at him “You mean the heckling thing, right?”

Aran had grimaced “Not just that, but yeah”

Hinata fiddled with the mouth of his water bottle thoughtfully before looking up at Aran “I think they just care a bit too much sometimes, and don’t think first before they say something out loud.” He huffed looking down at his water bottle “I also think it’s kind of lonely for them too, maybe?”

“Lonely?” Aran repeated, confused.

Hinata took a sip of his water before side eyeing Aran “They’re so used to only having each other, right? I think they sometimes forget how to interact with other people.” He grinned then “Not to mention all the people who only ever talk about them as ‘the twins’ and not as Osamu-san and Atsumu-san, y’know?”

Aran thought back to that conversation he’d had with Shizuoka-senpai, about how he’d thought the same. That the twins must be kind of lonely when they’re put up on a pedestal, above everyone else. Or maybe even worse, when they were lumped together as a pair and not as individuals.

Aran grinned down at Hinata “You’re pretty wise for a middle schooler, huh?”

Hinata stared up at Aran in bemusement “No one has ever said that to me before.” Making Aran laugh, ‘cause that wasn’t very surprising.

Aran was snapped out of his reverie in the middle of his stretches to find Kita looming over him, a curious expression on his face “Ya look happy.”

Aran flushed, shrugging his shoulders “Maybe, I am I guess.” He had been in a really good mood lately, and he’d been sleeping well. And he’d done great on his most recent quiz in math class.

Kita takes the seat next to Aran, stretching his own legs out “Didja ever find out where the twins have found their patience?”

Aran grinned brightly “Yeah!” And then freezes, remembering who exactly he was talking to.

Aran had meant to scold the twins about extra practice, and exhausting themselves. At least until he’d met Hinata and decided he wanted to help the kid out too. And he’d had a lot of fun doing it. But Kita would definitely not be thrilled to know the twins and Aran were meeting in secret every week. He’d definitely have every right to scold the twins and Aran now too. He also probably definitely wouldn’t be impressed with Hinata who was erratic and bright and bouncy, and also pushed everyone around him harder than normal by virtue of being himself. He’d probably ask them to end their practices. And Hinata would be crushed.

Aran couldn’t let that happen.

He felt sweat break out on his back and at his temples at Kita’s continued expectant stare “Err, that is to say! That, um” He looked around, trying to come up with a plausible excuse. He saw Omimi talking to Akagi near the net “Err, they’ve developed a good sense of team unity?” Aran’s voice went an octave higher at the end, turning the statement into a question.

Kita gave him a considering look, before he blinked and turned away “Okay.”

Aran let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and bent his knees to stretch his groin, dipping his head low.

“I noticed ya didn’t come to our study session after training last Sunday” Kita said mildly.

Aran tensed, not wanting to look up at his friend “Y’know I was kind of tired” He shrugged, staring at the ground near his feet, his t-shirt was feeling a bit damp in the back.

“Shizuoka-senpai mentioned ya talked to the twins about them coming in on weekends to practice.” Kita added, folding over to touch his toes.

“Did he?” Aran asked, voice too high to be considered normal.

“Mmm” Kita sat up and Aran could feel his gaze boring holes in the side of his head. Is this how the twins felt all the time when they dealt with Kita? What tremendous pressure!

“So didja?”

“Did I what?” Aran asked, chancing a glance at Kita who was patiently staring at him.

“Talk to the twins?”

“Mhmm, yup” Aran said, pushing to stand up, not having finished his stretches “I’m feeling nice and cooled down now, so I’m going to hit the showers, seeya Shinsuke!” And he is not ashamed to admit that he fled, lest Kita figure out all his secrets with his ever watchful eyes.

Kita didn’t bring it up again over the next couple of days, so Aran had hoped he was in the clear. He really really should have known better.

That Saturday Aran went to go collect Hinata from the front gate, while the twins set up the gym for them. Aran only bothered to shush him once while Hinata bounced next to him, loudly talking about a v league game he’d watched two nights ago, and had Aran seen it??

“You should have seen it Aran-senpai! The ace for the Green Rockets is amazing! He went into the air like FWAAH!” Aran always enjoyed Hinata’s accompanying hand motions to his exuberant explanations. It’s why he offered to carry the cartons of eggs Hinata brought, just so he could watch.

Hinata was in the middle of describing the ace’s approach for a spike as they pushed the doors to the gym open. Aran almost dropped the eggs in his hands when he saw what awaited them.

Kneeling on the ground, with twin expressions of resigned dread on their faces were Osamu and Atsumu, hands resting on their knees as they looked anywhere but at the boy standing in front of them. Looking not a whit bothered by the twin’s tension, stood Kita with his arms loose at his sides. His expression unreadable. Aran immediately broke out into a sweat.

Kita tilted his head, flicking his gaze between Hinata and then up to Aran “Hello Aran-kun. Do ya mind explaining what’s goin’ on?”

“Hi Shinsuke.” Aran wheezed, clutching the eggs in front of him like a fragile shield.

Somewhere off to the side, Akagi was leaning against the wall, his phone in hand. Without looking up he cackled “Someone’s in trouble!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aran is the goodest senpai. You can't change my mind. 
> 
> Come yell with me about HQ! at my writing twitter: [@boomturkeyao3](https://twitter.com/boomturkeyao3)


	3. Field Testing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your positive response to this story! It's been an absolute delight to receive feedback from all of you. 
> 
> Please enjoy this 16k of training fluff!

For as long as he lives, Akagi is going to fondly remember the expression on the twins’ faces when Kita pushed open the gym door.

Atsumu was just finishing stringing up the net, cocksure grin on his face even as his brows pinched in confusion “That was fast-” And then he made a garbled wheezing sound, his mouth hanging open as he lost all colour in his face upon seeing Kita standing there with his arms crossed.

Osamu was whistling a low tune, wheeling out a ball cart from the storage room. When he saw them his whistle abruptly died, his eyebrows shot up, his eyes wide, blanching as his gaze whipped around trying to find a means of escape. He shifted backwards, as if to walk back into the storage room to hide. Akagi couldn’t help but laugh.

“I think it’s time we had a little discussion, dontcha think?” Kita asked, uncrossing his arms, his face still placid. It made him look even sterner somehow. Akagi did not envy the twins. They slumped forward, reluctantly coming to stand in front of Kita, who promptly made them sit in seiza in front of him, so as not to look up at them as he began his cold logic scolding.

All of Kita’s greatest hits came up: accountability, safety, over exertion, self maintenance, rule breaking, and on and on. The twins stared at the ground, pained expressions mirrored on each other’s faces. Akagi demonstrated excellent self restraint by not taking a photo and immediately sending it to Suna.

Kita was just about to launch into a lecture about appropriate use of facilities when the door clacked open and there stood a terrified looking Aran with a little kid at his side. Akagi’s sharp eye managed to pick up on the brief looks of alarm crossing the twins' faces while the little kid just looked curious. Now who exactly was the little dude?

Kita had approached Akagi as their training session was ending today and asked if he'd mind sticking around for a bit. Apparently the twins had lifted (or were given, it was unclear) a gym key from their vice captain, and had been skulking around to get some extra training in. Apparently for a period of time coinciding with the twins becoming “nicer” in practice.

Kita also suspected that Aran was helping them, which was honestly a shock. Normally Aran was the last person to be roped into the twins shenanigans. He was also pretty conscientious of not over doing it too. Weirder still that Aran hadn’t said anything to them either. He was a team oriented guy, it wasn’t like him to get in some extra practice and keep it a secret from the others. Akagi had no idea what twin voodoo the Miya’s had done to Aran to get him to misbehave, but he was curious to find out.

Kita explained that he wanted Akagi there more as a visual indicator of moral support. It would only take a nudge for Aran to be convinced that this was a bad idea, and once it was three against two inertia would likely stop the twins from coming in for extra practice when they ought to be resting.

Down to clown, but not entirely sure why it was his clown shoes that were the ones being asked for, Akagi asked why him and not Omimi. Kita had looked at him sidelong “Sometimes Ren-kun is self righteous in a way that makes Atsumu do the opposite of what he tells him.”

Akagi laughed “So ya want me ta show up and keep my mouth shut?”

“I didn’t put it like that, but yea’, essentially.” Kita said, a barely there smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Akagi laughed again and agreed, curious about how this was all going to play out.

Kita could be a calculating monster sometimes. It was fascinating watching Mr. Poker Face plan his little traps. It’s probably why the twins were quietly terrified of him, despite being the rowdiest players Akagi had ever met. Kita exerted an intense kind of pressure for rule breakers and cavalier types that might be stressful if Akagi weren’t a hard worker and good student himself.

He had come along today expecting to witness a scolding, watch Aran hang his head in shame, and then maybe Akagi could swoop in and convince his friend to buy him a chocolate milk as repayment for his transgressions. He hadn’t anticipated the small child standing next to Aran to walk in, looking ready to play some volleyball. Or the way the twins grew more tense when they saw him, now too at the mercy of Kita’s cold logic. Heck, even Aran was shifting to the side, trying to block Kita’s view of the kid.

Kita was staring at the kid intently, before he flicked his still-waters stare up at Aran “Hello Aran-kun. Do ya mind explaining what’s going on?”

Akagi couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up his chest at the stricken look on Aran’s face as he wheezed his hello back. “Someone’s in trouble!” He hummed. He wasn’t a mean person. Not in the way Atsumu was, and Osamu pretended not to be. It’s just- Akagi loved watching people stew in their own discomfort. He liked to think it was part of his kansai heritage. He really really enjoyed the straight man in any manzai sketch, especially as a bit wore on and the straight man became more and more exhausted with all the jokes at his expense.

Aran gave him a resentful look before giving Kita a strained smile “What do you mean Shinsuke-kun?” Ooooooh~ bad choice of strategy Aran! Never play dumb with Kita. He should know better.

Kita gave a slow blink before turning to look at Aran fully, his eyes once more flicking down to the kid at Aran’s side, who was staring back curiously “Perhaps ya might like to explain why you and the Miya twins are here practicing today when yer supposed to be resting?”

Aran opened his mouth to respond, probably intending to play dumb again, but Kita bowled onwards “And what ya’ve been doing coming in on Sunday’s which are a mandated full day of rest.” Aran at least looked sheepish now, probably trying to figure out how to respond with the truth in a non-damning way.

Kita turned the full force of his gaze on the kid at Aran’s side now “And who yer little friend is.” Akagi watched both the twins twitch, exchanging glances behind Kita’s back. Kita glanced over his shoulder at them, making both of them freeze “Or perhaps you two might be interested in explaining.”

Atsumu, Osamu, and Aran all squirmed for a moment, no one between the three of them ready to speak. But they didn’t have to. Apparently the little kid was bold enough for the lot of them “Hi! I’m Hinata Shouyou.” And then he gave Kita a little bow with a bright grin, his head cocking from side to side so he could look at Kita and Akagi “Do you guys play on Inarizaki too?” He asked, a little bit of wonder in his voice.

Akagi watched Kita intently, curious as to how he was going to handle this little wrench in carefully laid plans. Kita blinked once, twice and then “Hello Hinata-kun,” the kid’s smile grew impossibly wider “I’m Kita Shinsuke, and over there is my friend Akagi Michinari, yes we play for Inarizaki. We’re second years with Aran-kun”

Kita was about to ask something when Hinata jerked his head back in surprise and looked up at Aran with wide eyes “You’re a second year?”

Aran blinked, giving Hinata a confused look “Yes?”

“But you’re so mature and calm and have all your life figured out and stuff though! I thought for sure you must be a third year!”

Aran rubbed at the back of his neck, smiling a bit abashed “Ha, ya think so?” Entirely forgetting that he was supposed to be in trouble.

“Hinata-kun,” Kita called, grabbing everyone’s attention, the wind seeming to be sucked out of Aran’s sails “What brings ya here today?”

“Practice!” Hinata beamed. The twins both pressed hands to their faces, unable to watch the best trainwreck Akagi has ever witnessed in his life. He should have stopped by the vending machine to grab popcorn on his way here.

“With the twins and Aran-kun?” Kita asked, polite as ever.

“Mhmm! Yeah! It’s really great, I’ve learned a lot” Hinata was rocking back and forth on his heels, wide smile on his face.

“How often do ya practice with them?”

Hinata beamed, entirely missing the gestures the twins were making at him behind Kita’s back, and the way Aran tensed up at his side “Twice a week. Saturday evenings and Sunday during the day.” He seemed proud of this fact.

“Why’re ya practicing with them?” Kita asked, his head tilted just so. Akagi doesn’t think he’s seen Kita blink in a few minutes, but it’s hard to say.

Hinata’s grin turned a bit bashful as he rubbed the back of his neck “Because I have a bunch of skills to work on before I can be really good!” He grimaced “And I don’t really have anywhere else to practice” He added a bit more quietly.

“Do ya know why the twins and Aran-kun are helping you?” Kita asked, flicking a glance at the twins at his feet who both twitched and averted their eyes, before returning his gaze to Hinata.

“Oh because they’re really nice and really amazing volleyball players!” And then Hinata turned his beaming smile to the twins and then up at Aran “And we’re friends.” Akagi almost laughed out loud at how touched Aran looked. Seriously, who the hell was this kid? Even the twins were looking a bit more wooby than normal.

Kita asked several more questions about how Inarizaki’s best players had met him, and what they’ve been working on in these secret practices, and about how Hinata has been paying them back for their time. Akagi was very curious about these eggs though. Osamu in particular got a slightly glazed look on his face as Hinata explained about his family chickens, so they must have been tasty.

When Kita’s questions had been satisfied, he let out a breath, which was the Kita version of a heavy sigh. He turned his sharp gaze on the twins, flicking a glance at Aran over his shoulder “This doesn’t excuse you usin’ school property without permission.” He said firmly, arms crossed over his chest again. “And Aran-kun, I’m disappointed that ya’d go along with this,” All three were now hanging their heads ashamed.

“Wait!”

Everyone turned to look at Hinata who rushed over to stand in front of Kita, flinging his arms out wide. For his part Kita could only blink down at him “Are they in trouble?” Hinata asked gravely.

And finally, Akagi couldn’t take it anymore, and he tipped his head back and started laughing. Because the kid only picked up on that now? He’d been in here for nearly ten minutes now, getting grilled the entire time by the most terrifying teenager in all of Hyougo. Kita was in his disappointed grandfather pose. The twins were sitting quietly with their heads bowed!

Maybe this is why they’d gone to all this trouble for Hinata? Pity for the kid who was dumb as rocks. Or at the very least oblivious as shit. Akagi tamped down his laughter when he saw the flat look Kita was giving him, but he couldn’t wipe the big grin from his face. Oooh, this was too good.

“They’ve broken some rules, on top of trying to cover it up Hinata-kun, so yes, all of ‘em are in trouble.” Kita said, not unkindly.

Hinata hand whipped out, gripping the fabric of Kita’s sports jacket “Please don’t be mad at them!” Hinata cried, bowing low, his hand still gripping the sleeve of Kita’s jacket. Kita had a profoundly confused (for him) expression on his face as he stared between the top of Hinata’s head and the little hand gripping his jacket sleeve. “They did this for me, if anyone should be in trouble it should be me!”

“That’s!-” Aran wheezed, taking a step forward.

“Nuh-uh-” Osamu hummed trying and failing to push to a stand.

“Bullshit!“ Atsumu snapped, faring only slightly better than his brother, a little bit wobbly on his feet. Both of them were probably experiencing really bad pins and needles from sitting like that for so long.

Kita turned to give the twins an unimpressed look, which had both of them reeling back a little, but they still watched Hinata anxiously. He looked back down at Hinata, gently extricating Hinata’s hold on his jacket, causing the kid to look up at him with big wide eyes. “Hinata-kun, are ya plannin’ to play for Inarizaki next year?”

Hinata’s face lit up a bit then and his eyes seemed to burn with something intense “Yes. It’s all I want.”

Kita looked back at the twins, and over top of Hinata’s head at Aran “Then you’ve been running a training camp for a new potential recruit?” It had the inflection of a question, but it certainly felt like a statement.

The twins stared at Kita in confusion. Aran’s mouth was hanging open a little, his own face blank. Taking pity, Akagi sidled over to Aran to elbow him in the side “Say yes.” He muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“Yes!” Aran repeated too sharply.

Kita gave the twins an expectant stare, snapping them out of their stupor, both of them vigorously nodding, agreeing with Aran emphatically “Uh-huh, yup. Training camp.”

Kita turned to look at Hinata then “Perhaps we should assess what skills you’ve learned then?”

Hinata beamed right back “Yeah!”

So Kita had them warm up, asking if they’d set up for two on two so he could observe what skills Hinata ought to work on. He disappeared momentarily into the locker room coming back out with a notebook in hand, ready to take notes apparently. Akagi was a little confused. He wasn’t exactly sure what Kita was thinking. He’d been so gung-ho about reprimanding everyone, only to abruptly flip his stance, wanting to see who this kid was. He even gave Akagi a small smile, asking for his help in observing the match, because “Ya have such a good eye fer defensive plays Michi-kun.”

Akagi gave him a blank stare, before pursing his lips “I thought this was only going to take like ten minutes.” He grumbled, looking away. Not saying no. Just, maybe Kita could sweeten the deal a bit?

Kita let out a breath “Very well, chocolate milk for yer help?” Akagi eyed him speculatively, seeing if Kita would go for two, but the twitch of his friends’ brow told him not to hold out hope.

“Yeah, chocolate milk’ll do it”

Akagi was settling in for a relatively boring match, pressing his back against the wall with his legs out. Watching the twins and Aran play was fine, they were good, but two on two never really led to any fantastic plays. Plus they had this tiny little kid playing with Atsumu, so he probably wasn’t even going to do anything in the way of fun or interesting sets. It was super freaking weird that the three of them would choose to train a libero though. Hell the kid was even small for libero’s he’d seen in the prefecture. Akagi could grill Aran about it on Monday, he supposed.

And then Akagi had to do a double take because he just watched the tiny libero jump to the same height as Osamu, maybe higher, to block him hollering a “One touch!” at Atsumu.

With a giant shit eating grin on his face, Atsumu got into his stance for an overhand receive and chirped “All you Shouyou-kun!” Rocketing the ball towards the net. What the hell kind of play- And then Hinata was once again in the air, seeming to come from nowhere, smashing the ball down before Aran or Osamu could react.

Akagi’s jaw was on the floor. What the shit? He chanced a look at Kita. Mr. Still Waters himself had his eyes open wide with shock, his lips parted slightly. Akagi thinks this might be a new expression for him. Akagi can’t recall a time where Kita ever looked surprised before. Seriously though, what the shit?

Before he knows what he’s doing Akagi is on his feet, hands gripping the net pole for support as he points a finger at Hinata “What the hell! I thought you were a libero!” Hinata’s only response is to blink in surprise at him.

Atsumu makes an offended sound from where he was about to toss up a serve “He’s a wing spiker, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t make him a libero, his receives are still real shoddy.” Osamu says, bored as ever except for the amused twist to his mouth.

“Hey!”

“Your spikes are getting faster though” Aran reassured him with a grin, mollifying Hinata somewhat.

“But, you’re so short” Akagi says, still a little confused. Hinata was even shorter than Akagi, and 174cm was on the short side of average for Libero’s in these parts. He watches Hinata stiffen a bit, pressing his lips together.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t fly!” He huffs, clearly trying not to snap at an upperclassman. Akagi just shakes his head in disbelief, and moves to stand next to Kita to continue watching the match, now far more invested in seeing what this little gremlin can do.

Turns out Osamu was right. His receives are absolute garbage. Akagi nearly says as much out loud, but Kita gives him a side eye, clamping his mouth shut. The game was only close by virtue of Atsumu being surprisingly good at defense, and Hinata’s extremely high attack stat, but Aran and Osamu take the match, having a lot more balance between them. The kid had kinda been all over the place but Akagi thought he might have pretty good instincts.

“I assume practice with you four has been a lot of spiking drills and two on two since Aran joined?” Kita asks mildly, glancing up from the notes he’d taken. The twins are smart enough to know that they are about to be found wanting and are starting to look uncomfortable, avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah! It’s been a blast! I love the feeling when your hand connects perfectly, and you just know you’ve made a perfect spike, like WHAM!” Hinata says, bouncing a bit from his spot in between Atsumu and Osamu. The twins give him sidelong grins, happy with his answer.

“And ya haven’t worked on receives, blocking, serves, or any other skills that’d be incredibly useful in an actual game setting?” Kita asks, tone unwavering.

The twins and Aran are now carefully blank and pointedly not looking at Kita from their spots on the floor, while Hinata’s face scrunches up “But those aren’t as fun as spiking.”

“We have done some blocking drills though.” Aran cuts in helpfully.

“To be successful at volleyball ya need to practice all skills that will be of use in a game, especially the basics” Kita says, looking at Hinata pointedly, ignoring Aran.

“Yeah, but it’s more exciting to spike. Like, waaaay more fun.” Hinata, wiggling his fingers a little bit. The twins are looking at him alarmed, probably nervous that Hinata is actually talking back to Kita. “So why can’t we keep practicing like we are?” His nose wrinkles a little, as he looks at Kita with big brown eyes full of hope.

“There aren’t any spikes without receives.” Akagi says flatly, personally sick and tired of tall people, and now small kids with freaky jumps apparently, caterwauling about how spiking is the coolest and receives are boring or they hurt. Receives are the backbone of a team, dammit.

Hinata stares at him in confusion for a moment, his head cocking to the side like a puppy. And then he wrinkles his nose again “Or there aren’t any receives without spikes.” Akagi will murder this child. Witnesses be damned. Atsumu clamps a hand over Hinata’s mouth, while Osamu grips the back of his neck, pushing Hinata’s head down in a bow.

“He didn’t mean that senpai.” Osamu says, grimacing.

“Yeah he’s very sorry.” Atsumu agrees. Hinata makes a muffled grunt that sounds suspiciously like ‘no I’m not’. Akagi only lets it go when Kita puts a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

“From now on,” He calls, grabbing everyone’s attention “These practices will be a bit more focused on building up the basics ya currently lack Hinata-kun.” Here Hinata makes a disgruntled noise “Yer already quite gifted at attacking, so spiking can be a reward once ya’ve done the necessary work each practice”

“Gifted?” Hinata breathed, his eyes sparkling a bit.

Kita gives him a small smile “Yes, ya make for a very dangerous opponent on the court.” And Akagi could practically see the heart-eyes Hinata was giving Kita. The tepid smile smoothed out as Kita looked at the others “If that course of action isn’t to yer liking we can stop these practices altogether. Agreed?” Which earned him a chorus of shouted yesses. Satisfied Kita gave them a nod “Feel free to continue practicing, I’m going to observe a bit longer so I can start comin’ up with a plan for tomorrow.”

And the twins hauled Hinata up, ruffling his hair, Atsumu cooing “Gifted!” at him teasingly while Hinata laughingly tried to swat him away. Akagi had never known the twins to be particularly affectionate in general, but this was a whole other ball game. If it weren’t for the fact that Hinata was little kid shaped he might have thought the twins were both flirting with him a bit... UNLESS! Were they lolis?

“I don’t know what that expression is, but I hafta assume yer thinking rude thoughts Michi-kun.” Kita told him, standing at his side.

Akagi shook his head, trying to erase the cartoonish mental image of the twins chasing around a childish lollipop sucking Hinata around, “It’s nothing, nothing.” He said waving a hand, before sharpening his gaze on Kita just as the game started back up “So ya gonna tell me why yer also helping out with this madness?”

Kita smiles, watching Hinata fly around the court “I want Inarizaki to be as strong as possible.”

“Sure, but I thought ya were gonna yell at the kiddos and Aran about exhausting themselves.”

“If they hadn’t had a reason to be here, then yeah absolutely.” Kita says, his smile widening just a bit in amusement when Hinata took a flying leap for a receive, missing the mark by a solid two feet. Atsumu stomped over to tell him to do it right or not at all. Didn’t call him a scrub at least. Such maturity and growth, Akagi thought dryly.

“I mean, the kid can jump and stuff, but he’s real green in every other way, dunno why you think he’d be a good fit here.” Akagi said, gesturing at the gym to indicate Inarizaki itself.

“Hinata-kun might make the team and he might not, but even you have to admit these practices have had a positive impact on Osamu and Atsumu.” Kita looked at him, eyebrows lifting.

Akagi pursed his lips, squinting at Osamu, getting ready to set as his brother trash talked him across the net. They’d certainly been better behaved lately. And a bit more understanding. And generally less annoying “Sure. But why come up with a training regimen for a kid who probably won’t even make the first round of tryouts?”

“Tryouts are several months away, so he has time.” Kita says, watching the rally going on in front of them. Hinata managed to save the ball with a foot, which was almost kind of good Akagi supposed, despite undoubtedly being a fluke “I think Hinata-kun might be the rare player who has tremendous potential himself, while bringing out the best in everyone around him.”

“What by making Atsumu work harder on defense?” Akagi asked dryly. Kita just smiled at him. “You want me to show up tomorrow don’t you?” He wrinkled his nose when Kita looked at him sidelong. “Fine. But only because I want some of those magic eggs.”

Kita blinked, turning to stare at Hinata “Right. The eggs.” He pulled out his phone to look at something, his conversation with Akagi forgotten. Akagi continued watching the match, sometimes mildly impressed, other times unbelievably horrified, until finally Aran called it - declaring he wanted to go home and eat supper.

As they were cleaning up the gym Kita called Hinata over to discuss his egg based deal. Akagi butted into the conversation “I want a dozen.” He said firmly. Hinata was doing some mental calculations in his head.

“I think I can do half a dozen for everyone, but it won’t be freshly laid that day.” Hinata said, rubbing at his chin.

Osamu chimed in with a “That’s fine!” While Akagi sulked.

“Actually Hinata-kun I was wondering where you live?” Kita said, looking at Hinata intently.

“Hmm?”

“It’s just, it’s illegal in Kobe city limits to raise chickens in residential homes, so I’m wondering where you’re getting your eggs from?” Kita asked kindly. Near the net the twins still, watching the conversation with interest.

“Oh! I live near a little farming village by Zuihoji park. They’re our chickens, my sister and I feed them!” Hinata said with a beaming smile.

Kita blinked. As did Akagi. Aran and the twins just looked confused. Aran broke the silence “Zuihoji park, isn’t that the one near the northern base of Mount Rokko?” Inarizaki was nestled in the heart of Kobe on the south east side of the mountain.

“Yeah! That’s the one.” Hinata chriped, smiling at Aran.

Akagi pulled out his own phone to open his navigation app “That’s a 30 minute drive from here.” Akagi gaped. The twins looked absolutely stunned, staring at Akagi and then back at Hinata.

“What?” Osamu croaked.

“Oh don’t worry, I bike back and forth, it only takes me a bit over an hour.” Hinata chirped, waving hand in the air dismissively.

“WHAT!?” Atsumu shouts, stomping over to grab Hinata by the shoulders “You never said you were coming from over an hour away!”

“Or over a mountain!” Aran squawked.

Kita moves forward to pick Atsumu’s hands off Hinata “Hinata-kun are you sure you want to keep practicing here? Or that you really want to come to Inarizaki next year-”

“Yes absolutely. I want to play with all of you.” Hinata says firmly. “Besides, biking up and down a mountain is really good training, hey?” Kita gives him a peculiar stare, before he lets out a breath, releasing tension in his shoulders.

“Hinata-kun you run along home. We have a busy day of practice ahead of us tomorrow. We’ll finish up here.” Kita says, giving Hinata a small smile. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Hinata bolts from the gym with a smile and a wave, promising to bring fresh eggs for Kita and Akagi tomorrow.

When he’s gone the twins collapse to the ground holding their head in their hands, both of them groaning. “That’s definitely why he has so much stamina,” Atsumu complains.

“Probably why he jumps so high too.” Osamu whines.

“Why didn’t he tell us?” Atsumu lifts his head to glare at his brother, like it somehow must be Osamu’s fault they’d been making Hinata bike an hour each way to play with them. Osamu bristles, and shoves his brother over, the two of them getting into a scuffle over who had been a worse friend to Hinata.

Aran wipes a hand down his face “Damn twins.” And then he bits his lip, his brows bunching together as he stares at the floor “An hour each way...”

“I’m honestly amazed you guys have survived this long.” Akagi says with a laugh, as Kita goes to break up the wrestling match on the floor.

Akagi helps Aran take down the net to the sounds of the twins sniping back at each other over who was going to get their moped license first so Hinata didn’t have to bike to school every day next year. Akagi suppresses another baffled laugh. Seriously though, who the hell is this kid and why exactly was it that the two biggest assholes Akagi has ever met liked him so much?

And why did Kita for that matter?

* * *

The next time Atsumu sees Sakusa Kiyoomi he’s going to hook a finger into one of his stupid little masks and snap it against Sakusa’s nose. The rest of Itachiyama were annoying too, but it was Atsumu’s discovery that Sakusa had facial expressions beyond irritation and disinterest that had pissed him off so much at the Inter-High Nationals. Sakusa’s smug little half smirks when he’d successfully dig a spike off of one of Atsumu’s sets had him borderline murderous in their game against Itachiyama during the semi-finals. That and those stupid spins on Sakusa’s stupid spikes and his stupid serves helping to knock Inarizaki down into the stupid bronze medal game.

Atsumu hated losing. Hated it more than anything. More than dental surgery, or exams, or not realizing the milk carton was off before taking a drink, and even more than people comparing him to Osamu and finding something in Atsumu wanting. It made his skin itch, his fingernails feel tight, and his jaw clench. He could hear himself snapping at his teammates, being rude to the bus driver as they packed in after their utter failure to place better than third in the nation. Sometimes he just can’t help himself. He sees other people’s sadness and it pisses him off, instead of wasting time being depressed over a loss DO SOMETHING about it.

The thing that makes him angriest of all though, are the useless chumps on his team who are proud of being third. Who don’t understand that any victory after being knocked down in the semifinals is ultimately hollow and worthless. Winning the bronze medal game might be even worse than losing first to get silver. Because at least when you got second, you know you fucked up. The loss stings. With bronze there are fools out there who think ‘Yeah! We did it!’ instead of realizing you fucked up earlier to even be at this point. Getting third is just winning at losing. His teammates who cheer their successful failure of third in the nation are the ones Atsumu can’t help but be meanest to.

He slumps in his seat, spreading his legs wide and keeping his bag next to him to indicate that he does not want company on the bus after their hours long shinkansen ride. Scratching at his freshly bleached hair, the texture still feeling weird, he gives Osamu a menacing glare as he walks past Atsumu’s row to go sit with Suna in the back. Osamu had played too well during the tournament for Atsumu to be mad at him for that, so instead he settles for blaming his brother for him needing to bleach his hair in the first place.

They’d done it on the Tuesday before they left for nationals. It was the last day of summer term, and Atsumu was beginning to realize the end of term turned some of his classmates a little bit insane. Something about not seeing school mates, friends, or a crush every day turned people into hyper emotional wrecks. Atsumu had spent that day half paying attention in class, writing notes in the margin of his notebook about what he’d work on with Hinata when they got back from nationals, trying to avoid interactions with his tearful classmates. There had been so many tears that day and Atsumu honestly had no idea why. They’d all be back here in September. Who gives a shit?

They didn’t have practice that day, coach wanting the team to alternate rest days leading up to the tournament, and their last two periods were cancelled so summer break could start in earnest. Atsumu had been meandering out of his class, mumbling a half hearted ‘bye’ to his classmates he barely knew, when a girl Atsumu thought might be from class 5 in his year cornered him.

Atsumu hadn’t been on the receiving end of a confession since last Valentine's day in middle school, so he really couldn’t help the smug smile from greasing across his face. She yammered on and on about the time they’d have apart, and how she hoped they could spend time together this summer. Atsumu had been feeling great about himself until she let an “Osamu-kun” fly from her mouth. His blood ran cold, an icy fury rolling in his stomach.

“I’m Atsumu ya shit fer brains.” he snarled, brushing past her, his day now 100 times worse than before. That would have been bad enough, if it hadn’t happened three more times as he murderously looked around for his brother. Each successive botched confession, intended for Osamu was another massive blow to his pride. One of them had even been a second year boy in Akagi’s class who professed his undying admiration for Osamu. By the end, the boiling rage he’d had at the first girl had died into an embarrassed shame.

He’d intended to yell at Osamu about being some gross kind of flirt, that so many people wanted to confess to him on the last day before summer vacation. But when he found his brother passing a ball around with Gin and Suna in the practice field, not a care in the world, that shame in Atsumu’s stomach withered and soured further. What was it about Osamu that made him so much better than Atsumu? He’d never cared much about being likable, except when his lack of likability got thrown in his face like this. He sucked on his teeth, making his way over to join their game.

“You fail a test or something?” Suna asked blithely, sending the ball towards Gin. Atsumu’s mood was apparently showing on his face.

“Haaa?”

“Looks like someone pissed in your cornflakes this morning.” Suna was watching him in that lazy way of his. Atsumu didn’t much feel like being scrutinized, thanks.

“Wasn’t me.” Osamu chirped, smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Gin laughed. And that expression pissed Atsumu off so much, it was the exact thing he didn’t need to see right now. When the ball came to him, instead of doing the overhand pass he’d been intending, he whipped his hand out, spiking it with too much force at Osamu. The ball richocheted off his shoulder, narrowly missing his neck “What the fuck was that for?”

“Yer face pisses me off” Atsumu bit out. This had both Suna and Gin laughing at him “What?”

“It’s just funny is all, you guys are basically identical,” Gin said, jogging off to the side to pick up the ball, tossing it back to Suna. “I can’t tell you guys apart sometimes on the court. You even move in the same way.”

Atsumu’s jaw clenched so hard he almost worried he'd crack a tooth. Gin might not know this but Atsumu had been working on his first step for months, trying to make it perfect. Each and every training session in the fitness center he worked to better stabilize his core and leg muscles to make it even more powerful. The implication that he and Osamu moved the same, when Osamu found all of Atsumu’s dedication tedious, was enough to make him want to stab someone.

Osamu was looking at him funny. Because of fucking course his stupid brother could tell when Atsumu is big mad, instead of just moody. His blood ran hotter.

“It’s almost like he’s looking in the mirror and petulantly whining ‘You’re so ugly!’” Suna said, adding a high pitch to his voice, in a very poor imitation of Atsumu.

“Suna...” Osamu warned with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, I’ll always think of you as the cute twin.” Suna reassured him with a wink. Osamu flushed just a little, looking away with a pout and that was enough straw to break this camel's back.

Atsumu threw his hands up in the air, side stepping the ball that came his way “Fuck this! I’m done.” He pointed at each and every one of them “All of you can eat shit.” Before he turned to look at Osamu “I’m sick and fucking tired of looking like this basic ass plain fucking japanese salary man.” And then he stormed off, ignoring his ‘friends’ confused calls.

He didn’t stop his hurried stomping, head down so as not to invite anyone to talk to him, until he made it into the nearby shopping district, finally stopping short. He took a shaky breath in and surveyed the area, trying to figure out what exactly he would do so no one would ever confuse him for Osamu ever again. He was too young for tattoos, plus his mom would kill him. And uniforms were mandatory, so he couldn’t even become a goth or a punk or something. But hair. Hair was always visible.

He meandered over to the nearest hair salon, standing out front as he peered in the windows, thinking. He could shave his head like Gin... Then people would probably just think of him as the ugly twin, which apparently they already did, so why make that situation worse? He caught a flash of reflection in the window, turning around he saw the electronics store across from him, a tv in the display playing some music video of an idol group. The lead singer had a blond undercut and he looked kind of cool.

He recalled the second practice he and Osamu had with Hinata long before Aran or the others joined them. When on a break their new science experiment had looked up at Atsumu curiously and asked “Why did you guys introduce yourselves as the Miya twins, like I’d know who you are?” He was a blunt little shit, Atsumu would give him that.

Atsumu had bragged about how the two of them had been an absolute force in volleyball since starting middle school. There hadn’t been a time in the last three years where they hadn’t played on the national stage. That they had quite the following, people thinking they were super cool. He even unashamedly showed Hinata the poorly designed fansite some first years at their middle school last year had put together for the twins. Osamu just rolled his eyes embarrassed for them both.

Hinata had stared up at him in open mouthed awe, his eyes lit up with wonder. Atsumu loved every second of that gaze, his shit eating grin getting a little manic as he basked in it.

“So you guys are like volleyball idols then!?” Hinata’s eyes sparkled a bit as he asked. Osamu gave a pained sigh while Atsumu had chirped a pleased yup!

Atsumu was a volleyball idol dammit. He might as well look the part. He was about to push into the salon, the tightness in his chest finally starting to alleviate when the one voice he didn’t want to hear called him from behind “Hey.”

Atsumu turned, lips pressed together as he looked at his brother “The fuck do ya want?”

Osamu’s eyebrows pinched together, briefly considering meeting Atsumu on his level before he evened out again. It just pissed Atsumu off even more. Holier than thou asshole. “Ya seem upset about something.”

Atsumu quirked his jaw “What makes ya say that?”

Osamu blew a breath out of his nose “I don’t know, the yelling thing, failing to spike a ball at my face,” Atsumu’s fists clenched “the storming off all dramatically. Did something happen?”

Atsumu glowered at his brother, warring with himself about how honest he wanted to be. They were in the middle of the street still wearing their uniforms, so if they got into a tousle they’d likely be reported to a truancy officer and then their mom would yell at them “I’m sick and tired of people mistaking me for you.”

Osamu blinked, tilting his head as he considered those words. He was looking at Atsumu, and like so many people thought, maybe Osamu did actually have a keen twin sense, because his eyes widened fractionally before his face went back to neutral. Sometimes it helped, not having to say things out loud. Sometimes it just made Atsumu angrier. He was currently caught in between both those feelings right now. “So you’re gonna get a haircut?”

“I’m dyeing my hair.” He said, lifting his chin defiantly.

Osamu blinked again, taking a step closer “Cool, what colour?”

“I think I’ll look pretty cool in gold.” He sniffed. It was aspirational. Also a reminder to the people around him. Atsumu would get the gold, screw any of you who thought otherwise.

“Y’know Aran always complains that it’s hard to tell us apart on the court.” Osamu said thoughtfully, tapping at his chin with his fingers.

“I’m not doing this for team unity bullshit.” Atsumu bit out.

Akagi had made a joke about that last week during their last practice session with Hinata before nationals. That the only reason why they were doing this was because it made Atsumu and his brother better people for the team. Atsumu had been so offended at the implication that they weren’t all here for Hinata’s sake, that he’d almost grabbed Akagi by the front of his shirt to throttle him. Aran had swept in before Atsumu could react, smoothing ruffled feathers.

Osamu held up his hands “Yeah, yeah I know. I just think maybe it’s a good idea.” He shrugged.

“Really?”

Osamu pursed his lips, looking into the shop window “Maybe I’m getting tired of people mistaking me for you too.”

Atsumu breathed in sharply “Did you receive confessions for me today?” It would be annoying, because people being unable to tell them apart was frustrating, but it would cheer him up some to know that people still had crushes on him too, it wasn’t just Osamu.

Osamu gave him a sly grin “So ya received some confessions for me today, didja? Anyone cute?”

Atsumu scowled, shouldering past his nuisance of a twin “Shut yer trap.” He grumbled, pushing into the door to get his hair done.

“Y’know mom is probably going to be mad.” Osamu hummed at him, as they each went to their own stylist, their colour chosen.

“Or she’ll think we look cool as heck.” Atsumu said with false confidence. Their mother was indeed pissed as hell. Both of them threatened with a grounding if they ever got any piercings or tattoos without consulting her first.

The one thought that stopped Atsumu from spiraling into a rage fugue on the two hour bus ride home from Kyoto station, was that in a few days he’d get to see Hinata again. He hadn’t had a chance to see Atsumu and Osamu’s new hair yet, and the effusive compliments they were likely to receive would cheer him immensely.

Also tossing for Hinata, that always put him in a better mood.

There was something about putting the ball up for Hinata that was unlike doing it for any other player he’d ever met. Over the years Atsumu had learned to temper his tosses, just a bit, in doing so he justified expecting excellence from the players around him. He knew exactly how fast and how high he could send any toss for all of his hitters, and he knew not to extend them beyond their limits because it led to misplays and losing, something Atsumu would not abide.

With Hinata though, perhaps because he was still an unknown quantity, he was constantly surprising Atsumu. Osamu had been right, Hinata moved faster than anyone on the court they’d ever seen, which meant Atsumu had to push himself to keep up. It was thrilling to be pulled along in someone else's wake, being told ‘keep up’, being challenged. And while he fought to toss quicker and quicker sets, he kept pulling Hinata higher and higher. Each and every time Atsumu figured they’d reached Hinata’s pinnacle, he’d itch to send the ball just a bit higher and Hinata would be there to match him. Every single time.

Part of it must come from Hinata’s never ending energy when it came to volleyball. As much as Osamu has pushed him over the years, the two of them competing at every turn, Atsumu has never had someone willing to stay on the court just as long as him, refining, practicing, experimenting. Hell, Hinata might go even longer than him if Atsumu would let him try. This was most evident in how Hinata’s demeanor had shifted since Kita had joined their practices.

Atsumu could admit that Kita had a point. Maybe he’d been a little bit self indulgent running mostly spiking practice with Hinata, instead of targeting any of the other many skills the kid lacked. It’s just, Hinata had what felt like limitless potential. There’d be times where Osamu would demonstrate something on a Saturday, and it’s like you could see the gears turning in Hinata’s head, and by the end of the next day he’d have whatever was shown to him down pat. At least when it came to spiking. When it came to most everything else he was a bit slower on the uptick.

So in the last few weeks they’d shifted to mostly receives, passing, and serving practice. And Atsumu could see it in Hinata’s eyes that he desperately wanted to complain, to beg Kita to let him do just a few spikes. Hinata had been a bit more vocal about his complaints early on, but it had taken Kita cutting off practice then and there, brooking no objections for Hinata to at least keep his mouth shut. Though Atsumu was right there with him.

He didn’t realize he felt like he was missing out too until Osamu pointed out he was being grumpy after a Monday practice, when normally Atsumu kind of felt energized and excited after a weekend of tossing to Hinata.

Which was why he felt like he had to savour the moments he was allowed to toss to him now. He was thiiiis close to spiriting Hinata away on Sunday’s for extra extra secret practice just the two of them, but Atsumu didn’t trust his shitty brother not to tattle on him. Practices would get cut off abruptly if he ever tried it, he knew. And then he’d never get to see that eager light in Hinata’s eyes, like when Kita finally let them play a three on three match a month ago.

Atsumu dreamed about what he could do with Hinata in an actual regulation match, because he’d given Aran, Osamu, and Akagi fits during their little game. Hinata was like a little blocker magnet, dragging focus and attention away from anyone else on the court. In the 3on3 match Atsumu had managed to score nearly half their points off dumps just by virtue of Hinata flinging himself at the net, for all intents and purposes looking like he was going in for a quick.

Atsumu heaved a sigh, closing his eyes as he pressed back into his seat. Next year couldn’t come fast enough. When he could use that intense menacing presence Hinata had in the Inter-High next year. Itachiyama would eat shit, not knowing what to do with him. Atsumu couldn’t wait.

~~~

That following Saturday Atsumu shook his brother awake an hour before their alarm. Osamu had tried to slap him, half asleep, intending to roll over and fall back asleep. Feeling absolutely justified in doing so, Atsumu ripped his blanket and pillow away from him causing Osamu to tumble out of bed. Beating a hasty retreat before Osamu could bludgeon him with a training weight, Atsumu sat in the kitchen waiting for his lazy ass brother to come get breakfast. He practically vibrated in his seat.

Osamu glared down at the plate in front of him, hair askew, “What the fuck?”

“Eat up.”

Osamu continued to glare down at the plate “Did ya poison it?”

“Of course not, now eat yer breakfast.”

Osamu still eyed him suspiciously as he slid into his seat “The fuck is wrong with you?”

“We need to tidy up.” Atsumu said impatiently.

Osamu’s face scrunched up in confusion, but he took a bite of his food anyway. “What?”

Atsumu couldn’t help the offended sound that crept up the back of his throat “Shouyou-kun is coming over.” He said, like his brother was an idiot. Which he was. Who else would prompt him to generously make breakfast for Osamu so he could get his ass in gear faster?

Osamu’s eyes slid to the clock on the microwave, before his face flicked with rage “It’s not even eight yet!”

“Yeah, I know, but Shouyou-kun is going to be in town early this morning, and I figured we could all go for a run or something before practice” Atsumu and Osamu had both received a message from him that morning at six, letting them know that he was helping his uncle out at a farmer’s market in Kobe, and that he should be free earlier than two like they’d initially planned. Hinata had been fishing for the chance to meet them earlier, he must be so excited to see him- them. Also he apparently had presents! For him- them!

So Atsumu had generously extended Hinata an invitation to come over whenever he was free. Which would be sometime after 9:30.

Osamu however usually kept his phone on silent at night, not wanting to be bothered by people before he was ready. Atsumu usually kept his on because he couldn’t be bothered to turn the ringer off and on. So the notification beep had woken him the morning, and when Atsumu had seen who sent it and what he said, he leapt down from his top bunk, gleefully trotting into the kitchen to start preparing food. He’d been very magnanimous and let Osamu sleep in for a bit.

Until Atsumu abruptly lost patience at 7:43am and proceeded to literally rip Osamu out of his bed.

Osamu put his head in his hands, letting out a shaky breath, probably counting in his head or something equally lame so he didn’t snap. Their parents wouldn’t take kindly to being woken up before nine on their day off by a shouting match.

“Shouyou-kun also said he’d have tons of special snacks for us too today.” Atsumu grinned, confident that this would distract his brother from his frustration.

Osamu tipped his head up, looking at Atsumu suspiciously “What kinda snacks?”

Atsumu’s grin was practically feral “Gotta clean ta find out.”

Which was how 90 minutes later, they found Hinata standing outside their house with two hefty boxes strapped to the back of his bike. He had his back turned to them as he unstrapped the top most box, using one hand to keep it steady “G’morning!” He chirped.

“Ey! Shouyou-kun” Atsumu grinned, stepping forward to help him. Even Osamu, who had been pissy as hell to be woken up so early and told he had to clean, had a small smile on his face as he stepped out of the doorway to greet Hinata as well.

Hinata turned with the box, huge grin on his face, and then nearly dropped it as his mouth gaped in surprise “Uwah!” He said, eyes flicking between Atsumu and Osamu. Atsumu leaned forward to take the box from him, more as an excuse to keep his hands from tugging at his newly blond hair, than because he was feeling helpful.

Osamu gave Hinata a smug little grin “Something the matter Shouyou-kun?” He flicked his head, his new silver hair flying out of his eyes. Fuckin’ prissy show off.

Hinata was still staring at them in open mouthed shock.

Atsumu glanced at his brother “I’m a little offended, does this mean he didn’t watch any of our games ‘Samu?”

“Y’know I think it does ‘Sumu.”

Hinata lunged forward, his face flushed as he flapped his hands “The internet was down in our area and I wasn’t able to stream it! I’m sorry!” He looked between the two of them “It’s just you guys look so cool.”

Atsumu lifted his chin, grin going wide “Ya think so?”

Hinata nodded his head vigorously “Like volleyball idols or something!” Atsumu felt his cheeks go a bit hot, and glancing out of the corner of his eye he could see Osamu was a bit pink too. Good he wasn’t the only lame dweeb.

“Ya wanna come inside Shouyou-kun? Show us all the little goodies ya brought us?” Osamu asked, gesturing that Hinata should follow them. Hinata grinned, stowing his bike and trotting after them, head on a swivel as he took in details of their house. It was his first time here after all. He paused frequently to coo at various pictures on the wall. Atsumu had summarily stuffed every single grossly embarrassing photo of him and his brother into a nearby closet - lest Hinata think them less cool than they are.

They made their way into the kitchen, Osamu setting out some barely tea, which Hinata thanked him for, before opening the box up to show them his farmer’s market prizes. Pickled daikon, fresh miso, some fresh wasabi, various vegetables, his eggs, milk from his uncle’s farm, and a medium sized sack of rice. He patted it with a grin “That was from the summer harvest from my uncles’ neighbour.”

Osamu was looking a bit stupefied, while Atsumu got to work cracking open the jar of pickled daikon. Osamu picked up the bag of rice, fingers stroking it lovingly, while Atsumu rolled his eyes. He grabbed some chopsticks from the drawer, putting some of the pickles in his mouth. His eyebrows shot up.

“Holy shit!”

“I know, good right?” Hinata asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Osamu plucked his chopsticks out of his hand to try and closed his eyes in pleasure. When he opened them again he looked at Hinata seriously “I don’t think we deserve you.” He said gravely.

Hinata laughed high and awkward, rubbing at the back of his neck “Don’t be stupid, I owe you guys a lot.”

Osamu thumbed in Atsumu’s direction “He definitely doesn’t deserve you.”

Atsumu took a swipe at him, which Osamu dodged “Shut yer trap.” They made a momentary truce, putting away Hinata’s gifts and leading him into the living room, Atsumu stepping away to grab his notebook where he’d jotted down ideas for practice and things he’d like to work on to improve for their next go around at Nationals.

“Ya really didn’t have to bring so much, y’know.” Osamu was saying as Atsumu walked into the room.

Hinata shrugged, taking a sip of his drink “I dunno, I figured it might cheer you guys up a bit.”

“Cheer us up?” Atsumu repeated, sprawling across the table from him, digging his toes into Osamu’s hip because he could. Osamu smacked his ankle in retaliation.

“I imagine you guys weren’t super happy to get third.” Hinata said lightly, looking down at his cup.

Osamu and Atsumu exchanged a look, before as one they let out a sigh, shaking their heads. Atsumu prodded Hinata’s knee under the low table with his toes “Ya know us too well Shouyou-kun.” He was glad he didn’t have to explain why he’d been in such a sour mood the last week. Osamu was much the same, though he still put in the effort to appear polite to the others, even during their team practices. Atsumu couldn’t stand it, anyone framing their third place failure as a victory was an asshole.

Hinata looked up at him and beamed, before his gaze flicked between them to their hair “I mean, yeah, obviously, though I don’t know what brought on y’know,” He wiggled his fingers towards his own hair “The cool hair?”

Osamu patted his own hair with a lopsided grin “Can’t a man just want to look cool?”

“Sure, but why’d you both do it?”

Atsumu wrinkled his nose, not in the mood for being honest “Makes it easier for people to tell us apart on the court now. No more people sending the ball to ‘Samu, lookin’ for a set and only getting shit.” Osamu kicked him under the table.

“They can’t tell you apart?” Hinata asked, brows pinched in confusion.

“Yeah, even Aran-kun complained about it, called it ‘same face syndrome’.” Osamu took a drink of his tea, lips pursed.

“Our Aran-kun is secretly mean, ya should remember that Shouyou-kun.” Atsumu told him, holding a finger up like he was imparting profound wisdom.

Hinata only looked confused though “Wait are you serious? Your own teammates can’t tell you apart?”

“I mean, now they can.” Atsumu said, gesturing at his hair. He still thought his blond looked waaaay cooler than Osamu’s lame silver. What was he going for? Boring ass old man to match his personality?

“But they couldn’t before?”

Osamu huffed a laugh “Yeah, no one’s ever been able to consistently.” Not even their own mother, when they tried acting like each other. It was something they’d learned to put up with over the years. Even using it in some of their games. It hadn’t been until almost two weeks ago that it had grated on Atsumu so bad that he needed the change.

“I can though.” Hinata said, head tilted in thought.

Atsumu snorted “No you can’t-” and then he cut himself off.

He recalled shortly after Aran had started in on their practices, Atsumu had taken Osamu’s practice jersey because he’d spilled yellow sports drink on his and didn’t want it to look like he’d pissed on himself. So he’d worn the number 11 for their practice, while Osamu had sulkily worn his yellow stained 7. Aran had been confused the whole time, too used to having their numbers to tell them apart. But Hinata, who hadn’t even been told they’d made the switch, approached Osamu and asked why he was wearing Atsumu’s practice jersey, and what the deal with that yellow stain was.

“Can you?” Osamu asked, disbelieving.

“Yeah, it’s easy-”

“A test!” Atsumu said sharply, standing up. He grabbed Osamu by the back of his shirt, hauling him up, ignoring his protests.

“We can’t do a test, the hair-”

“We’ll wear hats.” Atsumu said confidently, dragging his brother into their bedroom, rummaging through their drawers until he found their matching Vabo sweaters, making Osamu grimace as he pushed it into his arms.

“Sumu this is really dumb.”

“I don’t give a shit, aren’tcha curious if he’s telling the truth?”

“No? Who cares?”

Atsumu cared. Because everyone always mistook him for Osamu, and he hated it. Because even though Atsumu was the better student and the better volleyball player, even though he had more drive; more often than not people saw Atsumu and thought they were looking at Osamu. Like he was so much better than Atsumu. And if Hinata could tell them apart, just by looking at them, not waiting for them to speak, or to play, then that meant... It meant something. He wasn’t quite sure what, but he wanted it really badly. To be noticed, just for him.

But as a natural born liar, Atsumu also knew not to trust what other people claimed, thus he wanted to test it out. He dug out the matching knitted hats their granny had made them for their birthday two years ago, tossing it to Osamu. Osamu sighed, pulling it over his head “It’s too damn hot for this.” Atsumu just shushed him, pulling his own matching clothes on.

Checking himself in the mirror, satisfied that he looked exactly like his brother, he made his face into Osamu’s bored neutral expression, and they walked out to the main room where Hinata was flipping through his phone, waiting for them. They stood and waited for his verdict.

Hinata’s gaze swept over them, his face cracking into a grin “I have the same sweater.” Atsumu did an admirable job not snapping at him and keeping his face neutral. After a moment, Hinata’s eyes flicking up and down over them he pointed a finger at Atsumu and said “Atsumu-san.”

His lips parted in surprise and his eyebrows shot up “Yeah.” And then he frowned, shoving Osamu into the kitchen, whispering about what stupid pose they should try next, Osamu rolling his eyes and they walked out into the living room, both of them doing super sentai poses, awkward grins on their faces.

Hinata snorted a laugh but pointed at Osamu this time “Osamu-san.” He said, not hesitating in the slightest.

Atsumu tore off his too hot hat, starting to wriggle out of his Vabo sweater “How the hell did you do that?”

Hinata shrugged “I dunno, you guys are different enough, right?”

Even Osamu paused for a moment, giving Hinata a considering look “No, not really.”

“Seriously, how’dya do that?” Even their mom had trouble with this particular game, telling them off for messing with her.

Hinata tapped at his chin in thought before he starting listing things off on his fingers “Well, Atsumu-san you always keep your hands really well maintained, and your mouth kind of curls up in the corner, even when you’re trying to have no expression” He points at his own face to demonstrate “Also your fingers are always twitchy. Osamu-san is better at keeping completely still, and he has a scar under his chin” He poked his own chin to demonstrate. Atsumu had given him that scar, accidentally hitting him with a lacrosse stick in gym class when they’d been ten “And Osamu-san is like, just a little bit taller”

Osamu barked a laugh at that, looking at his brother smugly, who turned to give him a furious glare “No fuckin’ way that’s true.”

Hinata just laughed “I thought you said we could go for a run before we met up with everyone?”

They momentarily forgot their fight, turning back to Hinata to grin. “Yeah, just let us get changed”

Osamu hummed “Afterwards, we can come back and make some omelettes out of what Shouyou-kun brought us”

“Just so long as it’s not too heavy” He flicked a glance over his shoulder at Hinata, who was watching them with a grin “I plan on working ya hard today Shouyou-kun.” Who just nodded seriously at him, obviously anticipating the same thing.

Atsumu grinned back. Pleased as all hell that he had Hinata in his life.

* * *

“Hinata-kun” Kita calls, his notebook in hand, waving Hinata over once he’s finished collecting balls at the end of their first training session after nationals.

Hinata trots over, smile on his face “Yes Kita-san?” Once he’s close enough he stops and clasps his hands behind his back. Ah, if only all his kouhai were so cute and attentive.

In spite of his earliest intentions in regards to these training sessions Kita has found he’s actually come to enjoy them. In part because it has been good for his friends. Aran has needed more confidence to take on the mantle of ace and Hinata watching him with sparkling, only a little jealous, hero worship has been great for lifting Aran up. Akagi has learned to become more engaged instead of keeping his head down and only doing the work required of him. The twins, well, Kita never thought he’d see the day Atsumu would twist to look at a spiker who’d just missed a toss, sigh and say “Close, we’ll get the next one”. Kita would almost call Osamu nice by normal standards now, not just disaffected and polite.

Forthright honesty came easy to Kita, so it’s a simple thing to admit that what really makes these training sessions feel so special is Hinata. When he’d walked into the gym at Aran’s side and cheerfully explained everything the twins and Aran had been doing, much to their horror, Kita had been suitably entertained. His hardwork and dedication. His single minded focus. His bright and cheerful smiles. The ceaseless energy. The all consuming hunger for volleyball that gaped inside of Hinata like an open maw.

Hinata was like Atsumu and Osamu. Something Aran could be too when he hit his stride, and until now Kita hadn’t been aware he’d been itching to witness the development of a monster in real time. Because that is what Hinata was, raw and unpolished, inexperienced but obsessive to the point of exhaustion. Watching him should have made Kita feel tired. Should have made him feel bad for not being able to do what someone so inexperienced could do. Instead it had the opposite effect: Watching Hinata play and grow and learn, sometimes at alarming rates, made a small piece of Kita’s heart yearn to be like that too.

Watching Hinata fly higher, seemingly everyday, made Kita want to practice his own jumps. To watch him master a certain type of attack pushed Kita to try and be faster. Watching him creep closer to being competent at receives made Kita want to make his own more solid. Sometimes he almost forgot to end sessions when he should, so wrapped up in being inspired that he forgot that he was the responsible one in their motley group. He, who had always been so steady and focused on his own progress, who worked diligently but understood his limits, watched Hinata constantly break through the confines of his own skills again and again, and it made Kita want to as well.

Hinata was a monster like Atsumu and Osamu, and sometimes Aran. But the most monstrous thing about him was that he made the people around him hungry just like him.

Kita liked Hinata far more than he ever thought he was going to.

It was the way he carefully listened to instructions and worked hard. The way his smiles would ratchet up in excitement the moment he stepped onto a volleyball court. The way he’d sometimes give Kita salutes like a goofy little soldier, tearing around the gym cleaning up with more enthusiasm than anyone at Inarizaki had ever had. Because it meant he got to stay on the court for one moment longer, that made it worth it.

It was the way Atsumu was just as excited about Hinata playing volleyball as Atsumu was playing himself. It was the way Osamu would give toothy grins as he showed off some food he’d made especially for Hinata, slapping Atsumu’s hand away. The way Aran would flick a glance over at Hinata after he did something cool to see if Hinata had watched him, only to break out in a bashful smile when Hinata flailed around in excitement at how cool Aran was.

It was the way Hinata had finally won Akagi over at the beginning of their practice today when Hinata showed off an incredible overhand receive for one of Atsumu’s jump floaters. In their last session before Nationals, Hinata had asked for advice on receive training without someone to consistently toss or spike at him.

“Natsu-chan could toss for ya.” Atsumu offered.

“She’s not very good at it though” Hinata’s face was scrunched up in the way older brothers' faces do when they’re asked to spend time with younger sisters. Sometimes it was nice for Hinata to remind them all that he was still just a kid - something that was freakishly hard to do when they witnessed what a menace he was turning into on a volleyball court.

“Makes it better, the crappier the toss the faster ya gotta be on yer feet ta dig it.” Osamu mumbled, hunched over stretching.

Hinata pursed his lips “I guess.” And then he flicked a too casual glance at Akagi “Akagi-senpai, how did you get so good at receives?”

Akagi snorted. Hinata had been trying for different respectful forms of address with him, trying to butter his way into Akagi’s good graces and so far nothing stuck. The ‘senpai’ at least usually meant Akagi would answer at least.

“I used to play soccer.”

“Huh?”

Akagi sighed, flopping backwards to stretch out his glutes “I used to play keeper in elementary and middle school before I found volleyball. Ya get real good at predicting ball trajectories when it’s flying at you at 50 miles an hour”

“I didn’t know you played soccer!” Aran twisted to look at Akagi with a grin. “Why’d you switch to volleyball?”

“Tryna get rid of me Aran?” Akagi cooed at him, and then flopped out of his bend, stretching his arms and legs out into a starfish, apparently done with his cooldown “Girls seemed to like volleyball players more, cause they’re tall.”

“Did you join the volleyball team to grow Michinari-kun?” They can all hear the poorly concealed amusement in Atsumu’s voice. Akagi tipped his head to narrow his eyes at Atsumu.

Osamu sniggers “Yeah, I dunno how well that worked out for ya.”

Kita turns expectantly to Hinata, waiting for him to do his usual interjected scolding when the twins are being rude to their senpai. Kita has greatly appreciated Hinata’s willingness to interject on their behalf when the twins are getting unruly - better still is that they actually tend to listen to him.

Instead he finds Hinata holding a stretch for too long, a look of intense concentration on his face as he stares at nothing. Everyone else obviously had been expecting some sort of reaction by now because they all go quiet to give Hinata funny looks.

Atsumu prodded him in the shoulder “Ey, Shouyou-kun, y’alive in there?”

Hinata twitched and blinked and looked around at them wide eyed “Yes!” He squawked and then grimaced with a flush on his cheeks.

Osamu, on his other side, poked Hinata’s cheek “Ground control to Major Shouyou-kun.” Hinata swats him away with a scowl, rubbing at his cheek.

“I think I could do that.” Hinata mumbled almost to himself, eyebrows scrunching as he stared intently at the ground again.

“Do what Hinata-kun?” Kita asked, cutting off any more twin double teaming before it can start.

Hinata blinked at him before he gave a shy smile “There’s a soccer team that meets up for pick up games in the afternoon after school and I think they’re planning on meeting up lots when Summer break starts. I don’t think they have anyone who wants to play keeper.”

Kita tipped his head thoughtfully “To practice like Michinari-kun?”

Hinata beamed “Yeah!”

Akagi rolled upwards like a marionette on strings and gave Hinata a narrow eyed look “Yer already struggling with volleyball kid,” Akagi pointedly ignored the way the twins puffed up in indignation at him “Maybe just focus on that for now?”

Hinata tilted his head and shrugged “I don’t think it hurts to try, right?”

When they returned from nationals Hinata had proven to them upon their return to training that no, it didn’t in fact hurt to try.

Kita had Hinata on serve receives, rotating between himself, Aran, and the twins with Akagi to adjust his form and offer suggestions. When Hinata managed to successfully, albeit messily, dig one of Atsumu’s jump serves, in typical fashion Atsumu impetuously switched to his jump floater - something Hinata had little to no experience with.

As the ball went sailing over the net Hinata shocked them all by confidently stepping into the ball's trajectory, lifting off the ground in a hop and making a clean overhand receive, placing the ball cleanly where the imagined setter could get it. They all stood in stupefied silence as Hinata reset his posture for the next receive.

Akagi broke the silence. Striding over to Hinata, Akagi fisted a hand into Hinata’s t-shirt and started to shake him “What the hell was that!?”

Hinata actually looked for a moment like he was scared he was about to be hit “Uhhhh...”

Akagi just kept right on shaking him, a wide grin spreading across his face “That was incredible! Holy shit!” Then Akagi released Hinata’s shirt and threw an arm around Hinata’s neck, pointing a finger at Atsumu, mean grin on his face “Yer jump floaters are toast, asshole!”

And then to everyone’s further shock, Akagi smacked a hand on Hinata’s head and ruffled his hair savagely while Hinata squealed a bit, struggling to get out of the embrace “Lookit my little protege! He’s super heckin’ cool!”

That got Atsumu to snap out of it “Your protege my ass! We found Shouyou-kun!” and then he was stomping across the net to free Hinata from Akagi’s savage friendship. Apparently soccer goalie training had activated Hinata’s latent athleticism and he was able to translate a bunch of the skills he learned over the last two weeks into overhand receives.

A monster. Hinata was a monster and Kita loved to witness his development in real time.

It was things like that, on top of his undeniable charisma, and his polite demeanor that made him Kita’s (only slightly secret) favorite kouhai.

Perhaps it’s obvious what Kita is doing when he periodically doled out compliments to Hinata in the middle of practice. He always made sure to time them just as Hinata was starting to get frustrated or tense - commenting on Hinata’s excellent form. Or expressing his anticipation of getting to see Hinata attack once he’s done with the drill they’re in the middle of. It’s these strategic compliments that cause Hinata to light up and practically glow at him, throwing himself even harder into practice at the praise. Hinata is not complex but he is a deeply fascinating creature.

The intensely jealous looks Atsumu and Osamu throw at Kita when he does compliment Hinata renders the act that much sweeter. Kita can’t tell if they’re more put out by Hinata receiving compliments and not them, or by Kita bringing out those glowing smiles with a few well timed bits of praise, but either way it’s hilarious.

As Hinata rocks back on his heels waiting with stars in his eyes for Kita to speak, Kita can see Atsumu’s pinched expression and Osamu looking very deliberately at the ball cart he’s in the middle of putting away. Obvious, jealous little kouhais.

“I realized I hadn’t recorded personal information on you, except for your phone number, I’d like to know your address and birthday if that is alright with you.” Kita says, lifting up his little notebook.

Hinata beams “Yeah!” And he rattles off his address. Kita had made peace with the existence of these secret practices the moment he decided he was going to intervene in them. In fact it was kind of charming that the twins and Aran had felt the need to go behind his back, trying to protect their Hinata time. Kita kind of understood it now.

It was less charming when Kita found out where exactly Hinata lived - not too far from his great aunt and her son at their rice farm. And the fact that none of the secret practice hooligans had thought to ask where exactly Hinata was coming from. He’d forgive Aran, barely, for assuming the twins would have done their due diligence. But Atsumu and Osamu had no excuse - in over two months they never once thought to ask where Hinata lived? Invited him over for dinner? Tried to meet his parents? Kita’s grandmother would be disappointed in all of them.

Now that Nationals were over and summer break had started in earnest Kita had more time to focus on rectifying the twins' oversight and neglect.

“And your birthday?” Kita asks with a small smile, flicking a glance up from his book as he finishes copying down the details.

“June 21.” Hinata answers brightly.

Kita pauses, his pencil stilling, lowering his notebook. He looks at Hinata in confusion. It’s July 25. Which means they’d had practice with Hinata on his birthday a month ago. That would have been Kita’s... second? third? practice with them. Hinata is just smiling up at him, entirely oblivious to Kita’s slowly creeping internal crisis.

Lifting his gaze, Kita stares blankly at Atsumu and Osamu who have both frozen in place, staring at the back of Hinata’s head in open horror. Off to the side Aran’s face has gone completely slack, water bottle lifted halfway up to his mouth. Akagi is staring off into the middle distance, his brows bunched in confusion.

Kita flicks his gaze back to the twins and they both flinch. Ah, so his irritation must be showing on his face.

“That was a month ago.” Aran says faintly, voice barely carrying over to where Kita stands next to Hinata.

Hinata looks back at him and bobs his head in a nod “Yup!”

Kita takes a moment to stop reeling to think back about what they had done on that day. He flips through the pages in his notebook and peers over the edge to look at Hinata “That was the day we played 3on3.” Their first time playing 3on3, Kita had been curious about how well Hinata would do when he had to factor in the movement of a third player on the court with him. It had been initially rough, but by the third set he was getting the hang of it.

Hinata’s grin gets impossibly wider “Yeah! It was awesome!”

Finally Osamu seems to snap out of whatever emotional mess he’d dug for himself, lifting up an arm to point an accusing finger at Hinata “You didn’t mention it was your birthday.” Kita hopes he redirects that guilty energy into something useful: like getting Hinata a thoughtful belated birthday gift.

Hinata rubs at the back of his neck, looking almost chagrined “Yeah, I didn’t want anyone making a fuss, it always feels weird to tell people it’s your birthday on your birthday right?” He shrugs, and then lifts his right sneaker to scratch at his calf. Like it’s no big deal.

Hinata tucks his hands behind his back and rocks a bit on his heels as his cheeks heat “Besides, it was really good, my Mom got me a cake, and...” His cheeks grow redder as he averts his gaze with a shrug “It was my favorite birthday ever, I got to play volleyball with you guys.”

Kita’s heart gives a near painful lurch as he watches Hinata watch the ground.

Across from them Aran sniffs loudly, averting his gaze. Osamu and Atsumu have both turned away, pressing hands to their faces. Kita’s pretty sure he can hear Atsumu mumbling to himself about onions being cut or something. Even Akagi has a bit of a fond, disbelieving smile on his face.

Decision made, Kita raises his hand to give Hinata’s hair a pat, grabbing his attention “Well then, I suppose we ought to go out and celebrate, hmm?” Kita asks, a gentle smile on his face.

“Oh, no! I don’t want to inconvenience anyone.” Hinata says, flapping his hands in front of him.

Atsumu sets upon him, his face flushed and his eyes shining just a bit, even with the vicious grin on his face. He puts Hinata into a headlock “Nope! This is yer punishment for not telling us. Ya gotta celebrate yer birthday with us.”

Osamu wanders over to roughly ruffle Hinaata’s hair as he squirms in Atsumu’s hold “Yeah, ya almost made us miss our chance to eat cake with ya Shouyou-kun”

Atsumu snorts “And then we’ll make Michi-kun sing for ya, though yer ears might bleed”

“Hey!”

Hinata finally manages to get his fingers into Atsumu’s armpit making him squawk with laughter and let him go. Hinata ducks behind Kita once he’s been freed. Kita resists the urge to lift his arms to block Hinata from view, but it is a near thing. Perhaps these practices have also turned him a bit childish too.

“Only if you guys are sure...” Hinata says dubiously.

Aran shoulders his duffel bag, walking over “The best birthdays are the ones you get to spend with your friends, right?” Hinata’s eyes practically sparkle as he looks up at Aran, his nod enthusiastic.

“Wah-hey! No fair! Why does Aran-kun get all the cool lines!” Atsumu complains, lip sticking out in an exaggerated pout. Over dramatic little kouhais.

“Yeah, Aran-kun yer normally way less cool” Osamu agrees, lips twisted thoughtfully.

Aran turns to glower at them, a rebuke on the tip of his tongue, when Hinata leaps in front of Aran “That’s ‘cause Aran-san is the coolest!” Hinata’s eyes widen comically once he realizes his mistake, leaving the relative safety of Kita-proximity.

Atsumu’s grin turns a bit feral as he and Osamu lunge at Hinata, bodily picking him up as they play a little game of tug of war, Hinata squawking with laughter the whole time “Which one of us is cooler Shouyou-kun?” Atsumu barks. Kita watches the twins make eye contact, silently agreeing to start tossing Hinata in the air, catching him and throwing him up again.

“Obviously me.” Osamu says, nearly failing to catch Hinata’s legs on the way down. Kita has to curb the urge to stop the shenanigans. It does look like Hinata is having an awful lot of fun.

Luckily Aran has no such compunctions and lunges forward, ready to catch Hinata so he doesn’t hit his head “Don’t drop Shouyou!” He cries anxiously.

Atsumu and his brother cease all motion, Hinata’s laughter momentarily dying to look at Aran in surprise “We wouldn’t!” Osamu tells him, affronted.

“I’m fine!” Hinata chirps, apparently perfectly content to be suspended between Atsumu and Osamu.

“Yeah, it’s just birthday bumps Aran-kun.” Atsumu says with a roll of his eyes, heaving Hinata up into a toss again, making him laugh once more.

Aran twists to look at Kita beseechingly, but he just shrugs “As long as Hinata-kun doesn’t end up with a concussion, they can have their fun.” Atsumu and Osamu, along with their birthday bump victim all hoot with cheers at that, starting up their roughhousing once more.

Eventually they all make their way outside, hunger pulling stronger than rough housing with Hinata.

“Where we goin’?” Akagi asks, arms tucked behind his head.

“Where would ya like to eat,” Kita begins to ask, shooting a look at Atsumu and Osamu before they can open their mouths “Hinata-kun?”

Hinata shrugs, a bit of a bounce in his step as he walks between the twins “Doesn’t matter to me, as long as it’s cheap!”

Atsumu swings an arm around his shoulders, leaning his weight into Hinata “It’s yer birthday, we’re not gonna make ya pay”

Hinata grunts, but doesn’t push Atsumu off “My birthday was a month ago though, so it’s fine-”

Osamu thumps his arm over top of Atsumu’s and also drapes his weight onto Hinata, who now finally looks like he’s struggling “First we’ve heard of it, so we’re celebratin’ today. Whatcha wanna eat?”

“Can you guys get off? You’re heavy.” Hinata complains, making Atsumu and Osamu grin maliciously as they both go boneless, draping their full weight across Hinata’s back. Hinata is forced to stop, obstinately not crumpling to the ground by some miracle.

Kita is quietly impressed. He always figured Hinata’s legs must be quite strong with the way he flung himself around a court, but to be able to stand under the combined weight of the twins? If this is what biking over a mountain did for him, Kita had to wonder what a proper training regime would do. Or would it even compare?

“Shouyou, how much can you deadlift?” Aran asks, stopping to wait for Atsumu and Osamu to finish with their shenanigans.

Hinata lifts his head “What’s that?” He asks, voice only slightly strained.

Atsumu pushes himself off, freeing Hinata from half of his burden “Ya don’t know what a deadlift is?” Hinata shakes his head no, even as he almost over balances with all of Osamu’s weight on one side.

Osamu also pushes up, a bit less gracefully than Atsumu, nearly succeeding in knocking Hinata over “Ya don’t have a trainer at yer middle school?”

Hinata blinks up at Osamu, cocking his head “We barely have a gymnasium at my school.” He looks over at Aran, concerned “Should it have a training center?”

Aran shrugs. Kita’s pretty sure Yako Middle had one, but it was also a powerhouse school known for its strong athletes. “Mine didn’t.” Kita contributes, watching them patiently.

“Mine either.” Akagi nods. “We gonna choose a place to eat?” He looks pointedly at Hinata who squirms a bit.

“I mean, I don’t really know what restaurants are around here...” Hinata says, shrugging a bit helplessly.

“How’s about we all name something, then Shouyou can choose?” Aran offers, always willing to be magnanimously kind. Hinata gives him a grateful smile, as does Kita.

“Sushi!” Atsumu says instantly.

“Burgers!” Akagi offers.

“Curry might be nice” Aran muses, ignoring Atsumu’s horrified squawk about it being too hot for that.

“There’s a place near here with really good agedashi tofu.” Kita says, looking over his shoulder. He hasn’t been there in ages, that would be nice after a hard day’s practice.

They all turn to Osamu to hear his idea. Osamu rubs at his chin, before crossing his arms and frowning thoughtfully. His fingers begin tapping at his elbow. Atsumu calls his name. Osamu begins chewing on his lips, looking agonized. Finally Osamu looks up, a pained expression on his face “I can’t choose between them.” He says miserably. Hinata pats his shoulder consolingly.

“Yer not supposed to be the one choosin’ Samu!” Atsumu says, pointing a finger at his brother. Osamu gives him a sulky look in response. They all turn to look at Hinata who is chewing on his lip as he bounces on his toes, thinking.

“Sushi sounds kind of nice?” Hinata offers. Atsumu whoops and loops his arm back around Hinata’s shoulders, dragging him forward.

“That’s why yer my favorite Shouyou-kun.” He waves for the others to follow them “We can go to Tanuki Sushi.” Osamu hums something about sashimi, following after them.

Aran makes a face “Ikebukuro is closer and better.”

Atsumu doesn’t stop his forward momentum, but he rolls his eyes looking over top of Hinata’s head “Yeah but Tanuki always has better fatty tuna”

“I like the nigiri at Misoya more.” Kita says, pursing his lips, but following after Atsumu and the others. He’s getting pretty hungry and anything is better than having a heated debate outside of the school gate.

“Can we not argue and just eat?” Akagi complains, echoing Kita’s thoughts. Akagi hooks an arm around Aran’s and drags him along.

Finally they’re seated and they’ve made their order, Hinata at the head of the table, Kita opposite him. The twins on one side, Aran and Akagi on the other.

“We need to introduce him to Rintan.” Atsumu says, segueing the conversation back into Hinata and his lack of knowledge about basic muscle training.

Osamu wrinkles his nose “Suna’s just going to teach him bad habits.”

“Shouyou-kun ain’t a scrub, he won’t slack like Rintan.” Atsumu sniffs. Kita hides a small smile behind his tea cup, taking a sip. Suna could be lazy, but his training regime had always been quite impressive. Kita made a mental note to add it to his Hinata training list.

“I was thinkin’ more like he’d teach Shouyou-kun bad words ‘n stuff.” Osamu pointed out, taking a sip of his water. Hinata was watching the back and forth with an amused smile. His expression going a bit impish at the suggestion that he, a middle school boy, doesn’t know bad words. Kita is unsure what that look on his face is about. Two weeks ago Hinata had lectured Atsumu on the fact that polite people say poop, not shit.

Atsumu gawks “Shit! Yer right” And this makes Hinata snort, earning a beaming smile from Atsumu. Kita bites back another smile, always amused to see how eager Atsumu was to please Hinata. Kita would need to figure out how to best leverage that next year when Hinata was on the team.

And then he blinks. Huh. When had he begun thinking in definite terms about Hinata joining Inarizaki next year? He should do better to temper his expectations. But... This back and forth he’s gotten to witness, this friendship between all of them at the table - it feels only natural that it will extend into the next year, doesn’t it?

Distracted by his thoughts, he misses out on the back and forth between Atsumu and Osamu, with occasional interjections from Akagi about training regimens and practices for Hinata. Thankfully Aran is always reliable, even when Kita isn’t paying attention.

“Guys, slow down a bit. Shouyou is still growing, if he over trains he could stunt his growth”

Hinata makes the most egregiously horrified gasping noise Kita has ever heard, everyone at the table biting down on their lips to keep from laughing. Hinata was unendingly cheerful about everything. Except for his height. It was probably the only thing he was genuinely insecure about. Even when questions about his grades, which were middling to bad, Hinata would cheerfully shrug and explain “I’m just not very smart.” His height however was a different story.

Atsumu had laid it out very clearly to Akagi after he and Kita had joined their practices that there was one rule for super secret training (Kita quickly fixed that, adding several more rules) and that is you do not make jokes about how short Hinata was. Akagi had rightfully pointed out that Osamu sometimes called Hinata ‘Shorty’ though. Affectionate nicknames = fine. Insults centering Hinata’s height = a felony in the eyes of the Miya twins.

Hinata’s hands clap around his cheeks, his eyes wide with fear “Have I been doing that by biking everywhere?” He gasps. They all exchange glances around the table, unsure.

The conversation quickly turns to how well Inarizaki will do at spring nationals and the upcoming prefectural tournament. Akagi mentions his excitement about travelling for their training camp in a week. Osamu asks what Hinata is going to be working on while they’re away.

“I forgot to mention! One of the farmers near me, his son used to play college ball, he was a middle blocker. If I go help out on their farm he promised to help me practice receives and give me some blocking tips” Hinata says, his eyes practically glittering in anticipation. This on top of his adapted soccer goalie training actually has Akagi looking impressed with him.

“Where’d he play?” Atsumu asks after swallowing his sashimi. Hinata tells him, resulting in Atsumu making his judgemental face “Eugh, a Div 3 school, he’s probably not even good, just tall.”

“Atsumu.” Aran groans, rubbing at his forehead.

“What? It’s the truth,” Atsumu huffs, stuffing a salmon nigiri into his mouth. “It’s not my fault Shouyou-kun is out in the boonies surrounded by scrubs.”

Hinata is giving Atsumu an unimpressed look, which makes Atsumu wilt just a little bit “I need people to practice with me, so I’m happy for any help I can get.” Hinata turns and gives Atsumu’s food stuffed cheek a poke “You could stand to be nicer though.”

Atsumu just grunts, looking away, muttering a “Sorry.” around his mouthful of food before reaching for more nigiri.

“Ha ha.” Osamu is giving his brother a smug grin. Kita watches the gears turn in Atsumu’s head, probably contemplating tossing food at his brother. They’ll never be allowed back to Tanuki sushi if he does.

He needn’t have worried, Hinata turns and cocks his head at Osamu “Don’t think I couldn’t read your expression there Osamu-san, you were thinking the same thing.” Osamu pauses before he takes his next bite, also looking away as he chews. Now it’s Atsumu’s turn to give his brother a smug smile as he mumbles a sorry before he swallows.

Akagi is resting his chin in his hand as he watches the interaction across the table “Man, next time you two idiots are at each other’s throats it’s good to know all we need ta do is lob Shou-chan at ya.” He says with a laugh.

Atsumu and Osamu jointly glare at him, going back to eating sulkily.

When they’re nearing the end of their food, Osamu, already done his meal, leans across the table into Hinata’s space “What kinda cake do you want?”

“Oh, we don’t have to do cake too.” Hinata says, looking alarmed. Kita thinks about the pleased smile Hinata had worn as his food had been set down in front of him, and his puffed out cheeks and the way he wiggled in his seat as he took his first bites. He wonders what kind of ridiculously adorable face Hinata would make for a birthday cake just for him.

Atsumu must be thinking the same thing because he slaps a hand down on the table, looking at Hinata seriously “We’re getting a cake.”

“Only if Shouyou-kun actually wants cake.” Aran sighs at them, shaking his head.

“Yeah, don’t force cake on the guy, just ‘cause you two want some.” Akagi adds.

“Hinata-kun, would ya like to eat cake with us?” Kita asks, taking a sip of his tea. He hopes the answer is yes, now that it’s clear all of them want to.

Hinata squirms a bit, his cheeks flushing as he nods his head once emphatically. Atsumu and Osamu give matching cheers, Atsumu sliding a sly look at Akagi “We’ll make sure Michi-kun doesn’t sing too loudly, don’t wantcha ta blow out yer eardrums Shouyou-kun.” His grin widens as Akagi glowers at him.

After they’ve split the check five ways, Atsumu forcibly shoving Hinata’s wallet back into his bag, they leave the sushi place to make for a nearby bakery Osamu guarantees them has the best strawberry shortcake. Cake in hand they stop at a nearby konbini to grab disposable forks, candles and a lighter, making for a nearby park to find a picnic table.

“We don’t need plates?” Hinata asks curiously, fork in hand as Osamu carefully opens the box to show off the really pretty cake they’ve just bought. Kita sets to work placing the candles, pressing the lighter into Aran’s hands - the only other person he can trust in this group with fire.

Atsumu gives Hinata a lopsided grin “This is how we do it in the Miya household for birthdays. Everyone gets their own fork and digs into the cake, no plates or cutting necessary.” Osamu bobs a nod.

Aran leans into Hinata side to stage whisper “They only do it at their house this way because the twins throw fits about who gets the bigger slice of cake on their birthday, and thus a tradition was born.”

Hinata nods gravely, diminished only a little from the wide grin splitting his face.

“Don’t make us sound like animals Aran-kun.” Atsumu grumbles, chin in hand as he watches Hinata watch Aran light candles. What an adorable scene this all makes.

Kita reaches into his pocket to pull out his phone, wanting to capture this moment, smiling in satisfaction that he manages a candid photo where everyone is smiling.

Hinata frowns up at him “Kita-san, you should be in the photo too.” The twins whip their heads around to stare at him accusingly.

Kita is about to wave them off, when Aran nudges him, holding his hand out for his phone. Blinking, Kita hands it over and Aran extends his arm up and expertly maneuvers his fingers to the camera button. He catches Kita’s look “I have the longest arms for selfies.” He says with a wink.

“Peace signs!” Hinata calls after the first photo is taken, and through the screen Kita can see that the twins, Akagi, and Hinata behind him give varying goofy grins, flashing their fingers for the camera. A bit shyly Kita lifts his own hands and gives a peace sign. Aran sticks his tongue out and gives his own and snaps the photo.

“Alright, alright, enough photos - time fer ya to blow out those candles Hinata-kun” Kita says, swiping his phone back from Aran, smiling down at the photo. He might make that his background, it’s awfully endearing.

Akagi grins, leaning forward “Yeah, yeah! Gotta find out how many girlfriends ya got.”

Hinata stares at him blankly before he tilts his head “None?” Which makes the twins laugh.

Akagi clicks his tongue “Sometimes yer no fun to tease Shouyou”

The twins emphatically disagree with that statement, and throughout demolishing the cake between six hungry teenage boys, prove just how easy Hinata is to fluster. Kita is sure to snap a few surreptitious photos of a flushed Hinata pouting at the twins as they grin back.

As Kita watches his friends joke and laugh and share stories, he muses that cake sharing might make a fun tradition to do with the whole team. He pulls out his notebook and makes a note that they ought to do this next year, after Hinata has joined the team.

Kita is confident everyone at Inarizaki is going to adore him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did Akagi ever get his chocolate milk? He's still showing up isn't he? 
> 
> UPDATE: Please go look at [this beautiful art](https://twitter.com/nyanayuki/status/1282701539409309698) from [@nyanayuki](https://twitter.com/nyanayuki) of Hinata's birthday cake. I'm crying. It's so beautiful. 
> 
> Come yell with me about HQ! at my writing twitter: [@boomturkeyao3](https://twitter.com/boomturkeyao3)


	4. Mountain Miyagi Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fanart Update: [Hinata dancing with his chickens](https://twitter.com/kittygonyan/status/1283488572381827073?s=21)! Absolutely adorable art by [@kittygonyan](https://twitter.com/kittygonyan)
> 
> More Gorgeous Fanart! By [@_kirige](https://twitter.com/_kirige) from Hinata's birthday party in chapter 3. [Check it out!](https://twitter.com/_kirige/status/1297847574825783296)

“I’m here!”

Hinata slid into the gymnasium on socked feet, ready to convince Atsumu to let him try that cool as heck move he’d watched the Tachibana Red Falcons smallest attacker make last night. It involved coming in off that back row and synchronized jumping with a middle blocker and hanging in the air and-

Hinata paused, taking a quick glance around the gym. The mood was... Kita might use a word like sombre, but Hinata definitely thought maybe it was more like someone just got told they couldn’t wear their favorite volleyball shoes anymore for no good reason, or worse yet like they’d been discontinued and you had to find a new pair but you didn’t want to.

Hinata blinked.

“Did something happen?”

Sitting along opposite walls of the gym from each other and still in unison, Atsumu and Osamu stiffened, their shoulders ratcheting up to their ears and looking away from him. Hinata squinted at them, trying to break into their twin mind meld so they’d look at him. It didn’t work. It never worked.

( _Sometimes it worked, but mostly with Atsumu, and mostly when he was setting and mostly when they were playing 3on3. Sometimes it’s like they knew EXACTLY what the other was thinking._ )

That play not working Hinata whipped his head around to look at Aran and Akagi, stringing up the net. Both of them were averting their gaze like Hinata did sometimes in history class when he didn’t want the teacher to call on him because he definitely forgot to do his reading the night before because he’d been too distracted by manga or volleyball or volleyball manga.

Hinata pursed his lips. Did someone die? Eyes flying open in horror Hinata jerked his head around to scan the gym for signs of Kita- Where was he? He was always here first! Is he- Kita came walking out of the storage room, looking normal as ever pushing a ball cart towards the middle of the court.

Hinata heaved a big sigh of relief. Good. It wasn’t because something happened to Kita that everyone was being so weird. Bonus! Kita was always really blunt so he’d just tell Hinata what the matter was. Then maybe Hinata could fix it!

Hinata scuffed his socked feet along the floor, doing a slide walk to sidle up next to Kita. “Hi Kita-san!” He said brightly, before leaning in trying to be nonchalant “Did something happen?” Hinata probably didn’t whisper very well because out of the corner of his eye he saw Aran and Osamu twitch.

Kita was just staring down at him, looking like he was thinking. Or not thinking. Sometimes Hinata couldn’t tell. Both those faces on Kita were kinda the same. One time Hinata had thought he was in super deep thought while he leaned against a wall looking all cool and aloof like a villain turned hero in a super sentai anime. When he asked what was up it turned out that Kita was just thinking about how he was hungry - Hinata had immediately dove into his bag to pull out a slightly squished granola bar and offered it to him. That earned him a head pat, which he made sure to lord over Atsumu and Osamu for the rest of that practice.

Atsumu and Osamu hated that they were all pretty sure Hinata was Kita’s favorite.

Kita tilted his head “No one told you?”

“Told me what?” Hinata flicked a sneaky look over his shoulder between Osamu and Atsumu and raised a hand to hide his mouth, all secrety-like “Everyone’s being really weird.”

That earned him a ghosty smile that lasted less than a second on Kita’s face (but it still counted! His tally was waaaaay up over Osamu and even waaaaaay more up than Atsumu) before he let out a breath “Maybe we were all just waiting for you.” And then his eyes flicked down and he got that subtle ‘I disapprove’ expression on his face. Hinata tensed.

“Hinata-kun please don’t walk around the court in your socks” Kita’s eyes narrow fractionally, taking in the track jacket Hinata was still wearing “Also what did we say about your disguise?”

Hinata fidgets, wanting to use the excuse that his friends were all being VERY weird and distracting, but also knew well enough not to use excuses around Kita because those tended to make him almost frowny which was the WORST. So instead Hinata bobs a bow, shouts a “Sorry senpai!” and scurries back to his discarded bag, whipping off his borrowed Inarizaki track jacket as he goes.

The track jacket, Hinata’s most prized temporary possession. That had come about at the start of November when the others started to draw straws for who would go retrieve Hinata from the gates on Saturdays. They started drawing straws because winter was setting in cold and fast and all of his friends, even Kita, were big babies about the cold. Hinata thought they were all ridiculous. It wasn’t even that far below freezing, and he’d been the one biking over a mountain and he was FINE.

The day Hinata had discovered he could jump up and climb over the gate had been the day Akagi had declared he wasn’t coming to get him anymore because it was cold as heck. Hinata had only discovered this new talent because a classmate at school had taunted him about how short he was, jumping up and tagging different parts of the building and stuff. Not ever one to be outdone, Hinata had shown him up time and time again, until he’d managed to leap up and climb over his school's gate, smugly looking down at a tall bully for the first time in his life. He should have taken a picture.

Akagi had come to get him that same day, whining about the windchill, his cold fingers fumbling with the mechanism to open the gate and maybe Hinata was a bit impatient and also maybe just a little bit cold from the sweat of his bike ride and the wind, so he’d leapt up, hooked an arm then a leg over the gate and hopped down on the other side.

Akagi had stared at him. And stared at him. And stared at him until he threw his hands in the air “Have ya been able to do that the whole time!?”

Hinata shrugged “Maybe? I never tried it at school until today. My vertical has been getting better too so-” Akagi wasn’t listening though, he had crossed his arms to ward off the chill and was making a beeline for the gym. Hinata followed after him, glad to be on his way to volleyball and someplace warm finally. Even if Akagi could be stingy with his attention sometimes.

After putting his shoes away Hinata walked in on Akagi mid-rant to others.

“-no point in me freezin’ my balls off when he can get in fine on his own!” Akagi was blowing on his hands and stomping his feet in his unlaced court shoes. It really wasn’t that cold. Hyougo had nothing on Miyagi winters so far.

Kita gave Hinata a nod but crossed his arms to give Akagi a stern look “Hinata-kun isn’t a student here, he oughtta have an escort to make sure no trouble happens.” And then he tilted his head in that way that was super intimidating for Atsumu and Osamu but Hinata honestly just thought it was kinda cute. It reminded him of a puppy tilting its head. “Michi-kun are ya sayin’ ya only want yer friends to freeze? Yer not gonna help anymore?”

Hinata finished putting on his shoes and joined the others, standing between Aran and Osamu.

Akagi squatted down to tie his shoes, probably as a distraction from Kita’s flat stare. “I’m not sayin’ that at all! I’m sayin’ I don’t want to be cold anymore and he can get in fine!”

Kita let out a breath “And I’m sayin’ he’s not a student so-”

“What if we gave him a disguise?” Aran asked. Hinata tipped his head up to stare at him curiously. It was so cool that Aran always wanted to play the peacemaker. Though it was kinda funny that he had to break up an argument between Akagi and Kita, usually it was Atsumu and Osamu, or one of them and Akagi or Hinata.

“A disguise?” Kita just looked curious.

Aran flushed, rubbing at the back of his neck “I mean, we have our old track jackets from last year. If Shouyou wore one of those on the way in, people would just think he’s on the team and not bother him.”

Hinata gaped up at him, picturing it now, like a test drive for what it was going to be like for him next year! Decked out in red! With the cool stripe down the side. And Inzarizaki on the back. And oh man! When other people saw him they’d be like ‘woah! Who’s that cool guy over there? He’s on Inarizaki? The best team in Hyougo - he must be amazing!’ Hinata felt excitement start to vibrate out of his chest and into his limbs as he wiggled in place.

“Yer old jacket’d be too big for him” Osamu said, wrinkling his nose.

It was like a punch to the solar plexus. Hinata’s cool guy Inarizaki player vanished and turned into a dumb kid playing dress up in his parents clothes. Sleeves too long so they covered his hands. Hem of the jacket hanging to his knees. Collar gaping to show off his skinny neck. Hinata could hear it now, people would see him and say ‘woah! Lookit this poor lost child. Let’s help him find his mom’ or something.

Hinata stuck his tongue out at Atsumu who must have been thinking the same thing because he had a big shit eating grin on his face like that thought was the funniest thing in the world.

“My old one should fit.” Akagi said, giving Hinata an appraising look, tapping his chin. And then without waiting for permission he disappeared into the locker room. Aran looked horrified.

“What?”

Aran looked down at him with a grimace “If it’s still in his locker from last year then he hasn’t washed it since he got his new one in March.”

Hinata felt a chill creep down his spine “But it’s November.”

Kita gave Hinata a pitying look “Michi-kun ain’t the most fastidious.” Hinata didn’t know the meaning of that word but he figured it must mean gross dirty boy who doesn’t know how to clean.

The jacket Akagi produced was wrinkled and crusty and smelled like gym socks and eggs and stinky boy sweat all at once. When Hinata’s hands touched the garment he immediately dropped it and gagged. It was awful in so many dimensions. Crusty and slimy and damp all at once. This was the living nightmare his mom had warned him about, if he didn’t do his laundry regularly and changed his sheets weekly.

Boys were so gross.

Osamu leapt away with a bit of a hysterical laugh, keeping Hinata between himself and the cloth based nightmare lying stiffly on the ground. Atsumu lifted his shirt to cover his nose and started breathing through his mouth, complaining that he could TASTE it. Aran was just shaking his head at Akagi, like he couldn’t believe he was friends with an animal who could commit such crimes against textiles.

“Yeah, been storing my shoes on that thing, ‘also think I spilled an egg sandwich on it once upon a time.” Akagi said with a shameless shrug.

This was Hinata’s punishment for dreaming big, latching onto his dreams too soon. Kita was nice enough to supply him with double garbage bags to put the thing in so he could bring it home with him to wash. And then Kita started listing off rules. Like he was only allowed to wear it on Saturdays when he was sneaking in by himself. And he had to take it off when he got to the gym. And he wasn’t allowed to wear it casually at home (Not that Kita would know, despite whatever Atsumu told him). And when he got his own next year in April he had to promise to give it back to Akagi.

That last one was Hinata’s favorite rule of all. Kita had started talking in definite terms about him being on the team next year and Hinata couldn’t wait. Kita’s confidence meant everything.

As much as Osamu and Atsumu had made fun of him for needing to clean the stinky and crusty jacket, cooing about how Hinata was going to come back next week just as gross as Akagi secretly was - they’d shut their mouths real quick when Hinata had walked in wearing it the following Saturday.

In fact Atsumu couldn’t keep his big beaming smile off his face the whole practice, prodding him to put the jacket back on when they left the gym after practice - just cause maybe someone might see him! Osamu kept on sighing out loud about how April couldn’t come fast enough. Hinata agreed. He couldn’t wait to play with them either. It also helped that they both thought Hinata looked really cool in red, like a fireball Shouyou-kun! Hinata wanted to burn bright with them on the court sooooo baaaadly.

By getting distracted and continuing to wear his precious jacket, Hinata had started practice off on the wrong foot. Stupid distracting friends distracting him too! He’d just have to work extra hard to snap ‘em all out of it.

That didn’t end up working out very well. In fact Hinata might have inadvertently made things worse.

“See, if ya worked as hard as Shouyou-kun, maybe ya woulda been invited too!” Atsumu pointed an accusing finger at Osamu through the net. All Hinata had been doing was working on his runups tirelessly. He wanted his timing to be perfect. Prelim tryouts for Inarizaki started at the end of January and he wanted to be perfect. He had less than two months.

Normally when Atsumu threw insults at Osamu, he didn’t react or would just sigh or roll his eyes like it was tiresome. Sometimes when he was particularly grumpy Osamu would flip Atsumu off. Aran claimed they were often at each other's throats most of the time but Hinata had never seen that. The closest had been when Osamu had made some cutting remark to Atsumu the weekend before their birthday in October and it was Atsumu who nearly flew off the handle.

Back then Hinata had been deeply concerned with how personal and mean their insults had gotten. So Hinata had flung himself at Atsumu’s back, pinning his arms with Hinata’s legs, looping his spindly arms around Atsumu’s shoulders. After a beat of stunned silence Hinata had shouted a flustered “Jetpack attack!” that had everyone howling with laughter shortly after. Situation perfectly diffused.

Hinata was pretty sure, watching the way Osamu bristled and bared his teeth, a jetpack attack wasn’t going to help matters at all. Hinata had never seen Osamu get so angry before, actually. He had no idea what invitation Atsumu was talking about, but he seemed mad that he’d been invited and Osamu wasn’t, like it was Osamu’s fault or something.

“Shut yer goddamn mouth ‘Sumu.” Osama was half turned away, fists clenched at his sides.

Hinata swept his gaze over to Kita and Aran on the side lines - were they going to do anything? Akagi just looked uncomfortable, picking at his nails.

“No! I’m tired of being quiet about it!” Atsumu was pushing his way under the net to get in Osamu’s face “I’m fuckin’ pissed off!”

Osamu rounded on him “Why! Ya got yer invite!”

Atsumu grabbed him by the front of his shirt, Osamu doing the same back. Hinata made a distressed sound in the back of his throat, hands fluttering, not knowing what to do.

“I’m pissed that you didn’t!” Atsumu shook Osamu as he shouted, chest heaving. Osamu didn’t let go and his glare became more thunderous.

“Guys...” Hinata called, his throat feeling thick. Anxiety swelled and twisted in his stomach making his scalp feel tingly and his heart beat too fast.

Osamu shoved Atsumu, though he didn’t go very far, still gripping his shirt as he was “Who cares! Go be the best! It’s everything ya ever wanted ain’t it?”

Atsumu lifted a hand from Osamu’s shirt to push his hand into Osamu’s face, nearly getting bit for his trouble “Why the fuck arentcha more mad!?”

Osamu was gritting his teeth and maybe Hinata had tapped into the twin mind meld because he could with perfect clairvoyance see exactly what was about to happen. Osamu was going to headbutt Atsumu and there was going to be a broken nose and maybe blood and maybe no one would talk to each other and the practices would end and Hinata wouldn’t know what to do without them and maybe they’d never forgive each other and- and- and-

Without pausing to think, Hinata scooped up a volleyball off the ground and whipped it as hard as he could at the back of Osamu’s head. It made a dull thunk sound. The gym was quiet and still for a moment.

Osamu let Atsumu go and turned slowly to face him, a hand clutching at the back of his head. A look of profound betrayal on his face “Shouyou-kun, what the fuck?”

Atsumu leaned around his brother, looking thunderously disapproving “Keep yer nose out of our shit-” Hinata beaned him in the forehead with another ball, feeling his breathing going ragged.

Atsumu clutched at his forehead “What the fuck was that for!?”

Off to the side Kita, Aran, and Akagi were standing in a stupified silence. Hinata gave them a severe look, making Aran flinch.

“What is wrong with you two!” Hinata snarled, stomping forward, ready to do- something! He didn’t know! Why were they being so stupid? Why did he have to solve this! He was just a kid!

Atsumu and Osamu both rocked back, still both clutching where Hinata had nailed them each with a volleyball. “Us!?” Atsumu squawked and then took a step back as Hinata crowded their space.

“Yes you!” Hinata stopped short, glaring upwards, putting his hands on his hips. “How dare you interrupt practice to pick a fight!” They both flinched.

Feeling weird with his hands on his hips, Hinata shifted his weight and crossed his arms “It’s one thing to fling insults at each other but to get into a full on brawl, what is wrong with you!” None of Hinata’s statements were questions. Kita would probably call them rhetorical.

Atsumu and Osamu exchanged a look and Hinata clapped his hands together, grabbing their attention back, twin looks of alarm on their faces “No! No twin communication. Something is bothering you,” He aimed for an Akagi withering once over on the two of them “Obviously. And you don’t want to talk about it but you know what?” Hinata glowered at them, waiting for an answer. His first non-rhetorical question.

Atsumu and Osamu fidgeted, exchanging a mulish look between them before Osamu opened his mouth “What?”

“I’m not going to practice with you until you resolve whatever this is.” Hinata gestured at them dismissively, a curl to his lip. And then he turned on his heel and walked to where his bag was stashed, tugging off his shoes without bothering to untie them, throwing them viciously into his bag.

He was mad. Big mad. Big big mad. He was probably angrier right now than he’d been when Yukigaoka had lost. Madder than when his team had quit on him, playing it up like some big joke. Madder than when his mother had told him they needed to move to Hyougo after his parents divorce - never letting him fulfill his dream of playing for Karasuno like the tiny giant. Madder than when he’d come to Hyougo and discovered that his middle school didn’t have a team and that the high school he was expected to go to didn’t have one either.

He hasn’t felt like this in a long long time.

Because after meeting Atsumu and Osamu he hadn’t needed to. Finally, finally he had met people who he could play with. People who loved volleyball just like him. Who liked to play with him and wanted him to get better - because they wanted to keep playing with him. Because he’d dreamed of playing for Karasuno and Atsumu and Osamu had shown him that his dream wasn’t over, it just needed to change shape. He could still play volleyball. And one day, if he got good enough, he’d get to play at center court too, just like the tiny giant. Beside his friends. Who made volleyball fun.

Instead of: I’m going to be the next Tiny Giant playing for Karasuno, Hinata now dreamt: I’m going to be the next ace of Inarizaki and win on the national stage! Which felt bigger and more certain than the old dream.

Today they’d managed to suck all the joy out of it. The past half year had been one of the happiest of his life, because he’d gotten to grow and learn and make new friends who cared just as much about volleyball as he did. He got to slowly grow on Akagi, who still made jokes about how Hinata was his protege. He got to be mentored by Aran who was one of the kindest and most considerate people he’d ever met - who cheered harder for Hinata when he figured something out, than anyone else. He got to learn diligence and patience from Kita, even if Hinata wasn’t very good at either, he learned to be cared for and to care for others in turn.

He made best friends with apparently two of the most terrifying players in all of Hyougo, which was so funny because Atsumu and Osamu were just two goofy people, who worked best together cracking jokes. Hinata exchanged texts with Atsumu while they watched v league games in their own homes, developing their own emoji based volleyball language between them. He sent tons of pictures of all the cool fresh foods he got to eat in his rural area to Osamu, bragging about his constant source of fresh veggies. Osamu in turn sent him endless recipes, making Hinata promise to cook for him one day. They talked manga and the best places to run and their favorite sights in Hyougo. They wrestled and joked and made a general nuisance of themselves to Aran and Kita and Akagi.

Getting to play volleyball was amazing. But getting to play volleyball with Atsumu and Osamu? He liked that most of all.

Until today, when they’d rather fight and hurt each other than talk about their problems. Hinata grit his teeth. The thing that made him angriest of all was them pretending they didn’t need to tell Hinata anything, like him being worried was HIS problem. He was worried about them! And now he wasn’t worried about volleyball which is the only thing he wanted to occupy his thoughts. And not his dumb friends who got into dumb fights and were dumb violent with each other. Pretending like it wasn’t any of Hinata’s business, like he wasn’t THEIR friend.

Hinata was stomping towards the exit, not bothering to look back - he could apologize to the others when he cooled down after his bike ride home. Atsumu’s voice cut through the blood rushing in his ears “Shouyou-kun, where the heck do ya think yer going?” Like Hinata’s anger was funny or something. Like it was confusing that he was having any sort of reaction.

_[Shisui-kun had laughed, tugging his green jersey over his head “C’mon Shouyou, we’re not even a team. Who cares?” And then he’d gestured for the others, the people Hinata had thought were his friends and teammates, to follow him to the bus stop._

_Hinata stayed seated on the low stone wall, alone, and finally let the tears fall down his face.]_

Hinata paused, hand on the door. He didn’t bother turning around but made sure to keep his voice loud so they wouldn’t misunderstand “I’m going home. I’m not going to practice with you two like this. Text me when you figure your stuff out.” And then he pushed through the door, not looking back. He ignored Osamu’s voice calling after him, instead shoving his feet into his sneakers and grabbing his jacket.

Stupid Atsumu and Osamu. Stupid ‘twin things’. They used to do that a lot more back in May and June, before Aran joined them. Bickering or having conversations Hinata couldn’t follow and when he asked they’d just wave him off “It’s a twin thing, you wouldn’t understand.” He thought they were all past this.

Hinata tugged his scarf tighter around him, fishing around in his bag for his earmuffs. He should have grabbed that knit hat from his mom before he left. The wind on his forehead was going to suck on the way back home. Bleh.

“Shouyou-kun!”

Hinata glanced over his shoulder to see Atsumu and Osamu running out the gym after him, jackets unzipped and sneakers untied. They were still wearing their shorts. Hinata blinked.

“Shouyou-kun wait!” Atsumu called, nearly tripping on his own undone shoelace.

Hinata’s lizard brain activated and instead of fight or flight it read Atsumu and Osamu barreling down the path at him as a CHALLENGE and before he made a conscious decision, Hinata was sprinting as hard as he could towards the school gate.

“Goddammit! Wait!” That was Osamu.

Sucks for them but Hinata had always been faster than the two of them, he half skidded around a corner, the gate in his sights as Atsumu loudly swore behind him. Hinata didn’t hesitate, toes digging into the concrete as he blasted towards his target. On the fly he realized fiddling with the gate mechanism would give them a chance to catch up. Hinata prepared himself for a full speed vault over the gate.

He cleared the metal, using the momentum from his arms to twist his legs over smoothly. He had the fleeting thought ‘Parkour!’ trip through his brain before he landed.

“Uwah!” Atsumu and Osamu called in unison, still excited to see Hinata do something cool, even in their desperation to catch him. Hinata flashed them a toothy smirk before he sprinted to the bike racks. Cold fingers and combo lock, don’t fail him now!

They reached the gate panting, Osamu fiddling with the mechanism to get it open, Atsumu squeezing through the opening as it creaked apart. Hinata had just gotten his lock off, tossing it haphazardly over his shoulder, trying to pedal away as Atsumu finally caught up. Quick hands clamped down onto the carrier grate at the back of his bike.

“Are ya fuckin’ serious right now?” Atsumu sounded a little shrill as he panted, Osamu coming up behind him, scowl on his face.

“Why the heck didja run?” Osamu asked through gasping breaths.

Hinata glared down at his handle bars mutinously. He was switching to a magnetic lock, stupid combination and stupid cold fingers and stupid adrenaline.

“C’mon Shouyou-kun it’s cold out here, let’s go back and-” Atsumu didn’t get to finish his sentence.

He twisted around to glare at them “I said you could _**text** _me when you resolved your stuff.” He wished he could for once in his life just say shit out loud. Because that really encapsulated everything about this situation. Shitty shitty shit shit.

Osamu sighed like HE was the one being difficult “Shouyou-kun...”

“I’m pretty sure I know you two well enough that whatever that fight just now was about hasn’t been resolved in a two minute sprint to the gates. So how about you let me go.” Hinata spat icily.

They exchanged a look, Atsumu looking particularly mulish “It’s not something ya should concern yerself with.”

Hinata rolled his eyes “Cool. Let go of my bike now please.”

Atsumu bristled “Yer being a big fuckin’ baby, ya know that?”

Hinata turned away, crossing his arms, before he twitched his fingers in irritation at his elbow. No! He tried being a grown up. He wasn’t the one being a baby. Hinata swung off his bike, kicking it with a clatter to the ground as he whirled to face Atsumu “I’m a big baby!?” He snarled.

Osamu sighed and tried to push to stand between them, trying to fill his peacemaker role, like he was so above whatever the hell was going on. Like he wasn’t part of the problem! Hinata batted Osamu’s placating hand away, glaring up into his stunned expression.

“Don’t act like this isn’t about you too!”

And now both Atsumu and Osamu were wearing matching pissy expressions, arms crossed and everything. Hinata wiped both his hands down his face “Have you ever thought that maybe I’m worried about you?”

A beat of silence.

Osamu quirked his jaw “Ya don’t hafta be...”

Hinata tipped his head to look up at the sky “You know, I never understood why people are so weird about you two.” Hinata said with a heavy sigh, feeling tired. Atsumu and Osamu just stared at him blankly, unclear about where this was going “So many people talk about you like you’re some sort of super powered volleyball masters, and how you’re so different from everyone else.”

Since meeting them Hinata had seen countless local news stories about Atsumu and Osamu and their accomplishments - he had a hair trigger ear and eye for the word ‘Miya’ now. And at first it had been really cool. He’d never known anyone who got to be on the news, let alone so much. He felt proud every time he saw a newspaper talking about how amazing Inarizaki was and inevitably there’d be a picture of Atsumu or Osamu on the cover. And then he saw an article in a newspaper just before the prefectural tournament last month and he started to wonder.

‘Will the local volleyball gods be enough to carry Hyougo to the top in the nation?’ It was a profile on Atsumu and Osamu, it used a lot of metaphors with magic and supernatural powers. Hinata had thought it was hilarious and snapped a picture, planning on showing them the next time at practice. He started quietly working on jokes to use about Atsumu’s magic fingers, and how he could shout random latin words when Osamu spiked like he was casting a spell. Or call a block by one of them ‘THE WRATH OF GOD’.

He never did show them that photo. Or make those jokes. Because Hinata started to wonder if maybe articles like that were part of the reason Atsumu and Osamu were so weird sometimes. Like they only had each other - could only rely on each other. Atsumu said he didn’t have friends, and didn’t need friends, correcting himself at Hinata’s hurt expression: He didn't need friends outside of Hinata. Osamu said he had friends he just wasn’t really close to, again outside of Hinata. Even the way Akagi talked about them - like it was natural that the twins were just more. Better.

Hinata who was not more or better himself yet found that deeply frustrating. Because he was pretty sure he could work hard and get there someday. It’s not like they were two meters tall! Every single skill they had was hard practiced. Not something innate and easy. Not the gift of some unholy volleyball god.

Gods were meant to be worshipped. To be put apart and above you. Different. Hinata thought maybe being called a god meant you were only allowed to be strong and different than everyone else. That maybe it was kinda lonely being like that.

Maybe that was why Atsumu and Osamu closed ranks sometimes like it was the two of them against the rest of the world.

Atsumu and Osamu were still staring at him.

“It must be exhausting, carrying all those expectations by yourselves,”

Hinata has no idea why they were fighting. He just knows it’s big and it feels dangerous and hurtful and it’s made both Atsumu and Osamu really unhappy. And instead of talking about it they just want to take it out on each other, like they’re the only two in the world who’ll get it - who can be hurt.

Hinata tips his head up to look each of them in the eye before he sighs “When you’re ready you can tell me about it.” His smile feels tired and the blank expressions on Atsumu and Osamu have melted into something more uncomfortable “That’s what friends are for.”

Bending down to pick up his bike, he stared down at the handlebars. Biking over the mountain would be good. It’d help him reset. Maybe he could play a card game with Natsu when he got home. Some food would be good too.

“I got invited to the All-Japan youth training camp.” Atsumu blurts, fists clenched at his sides.

Hinata turned. Blinked. Dragged his eyes to watch Osamu’s expression. Tired and annoyed but not hurt. Osamu caught him looking.

“I didn’t.”

Atsumu bristled again, before he let out a shaky breath and crossed his arms looking away. Osamu didn’t sound particularly resentful. Just acceptant.

Oh.

Atsumu was glaring down at the concrete now, like it was this patch of grounds’ fault, every single one of his problems.

“Is this the first time you’re going to play volleyball without each other?” For a moment Hinata was worried his words had actually had physical weight to them, because Atsumu flinched so badly it was like he’d been slapped in the face. Even Osamu winced, giving Hinata his pained ‘Shouyou-kun, please’ look. It was the look he used when he was getting too hyper on the court, riling Atsumu up until they were both bouncing around like idiots.

“So what?” Atsumu spat, glaring at a point over Hinata’s shoulder.

“He’s mad I’m not more mad.” Osamu swayed sideways to avoid the vicious swipe from his brother. Atsumu swore and tried again, Osamu hopping out of the way, looking bored, even as his brows slowly started pinching together.

Hinata squinted his eyes watching them. This seemed like the most complex simple problem in the world. It was also weird that Hinata wanted to gush about All-Japan but felt like maybe he shouldn’t because of Osamu. But also maybe he wouldn’t care? But also was Atsumu feeling guilty, offended, proud, or angry? Or some weird mix of all four?

Oh. Atsumu felt like he couldn’t enjoy it because Osamu didn’t make it. Duh.

“Atsumu-san?” Hinata called, Atsumu stopped trying to karate chop Osamu mid swipe to turn and stare at him “Congratulations on making All-Japan. That’s really cool. You’re one of the best setters in the country then, right?”

Perhaps Atsumu and Osamu were volleyball gods with supernatural volleyball magic. Perhaps Hinata had some magic of his own because for the second time in two minutes it was like his words had a physical weight. It looked like Atsumu was going to tip over, even as his eyes bugged out. He sent a panicked glance at Osamu, before turning wide eyes to Hinata that practically screamed ‘I can’t believe you’ve done this.’ Instead of words Atsumu made a wheezing sound that choked off halfway through and then he looked away with his face bright red.

“Y’know I think yer the first person to actually say that outside of our coach.” Osamu had a half amused twist to his mouth as he looked at Hinata.

Atsumu made another choked wheezing sound, turning to glower at Osamu “Fuck off! That ain’t true!”

“It’s really cool to be recognized for all your hardwork and dedication to volleyball.” Hinata continued, like he hadn’t paused to watch their reaction. He could feel the start of simmering excitement building in his chest. He wished they’d told him when he walked into the gym earlier - then he really could have been super excited and hopped around shouting - Hinata bet for sure Atsumu would have appreciated that.

Atsumu was chewing on his lip frantically looking between Hinata and Osamu, like he couldn’t decide if he was going to preen or if he should pretend this wasn’t happening.

Hinata clenched his fists in front of him “Oh man! You’re going to play with so many other amazing players too, from all over Japan!” Atsumu fidgetted, his cheeks flushing a deeper shade of red. “Oh! You’re going to play with Ushiwaka! I can’t wait to hear stories about what it’s like to set for him.”

“Betcha have to be nice if yer gonna set for Ushiwaka” Osamu said with a condescending smirk.

Atsumu pressed his lips together, trying to bottle up whatever was about to come pouring out of his mouth, he failed. “What the shit! Shouyou-kun! What the shit!? And you!” He whirled to point an accusing finger at Osamu “Why arentcha freakin’ out?”

Osamu shrugged “It’s like I already toldja. You love this game more’n me and that’s fine. Also I don’t got any screws loose, so of course they ain’t pickin’ me.”

Atsumu turned his glare on Hinata now “And what the fuck was that, tryna cheer me up or something? I’m allowed to have feelings and shit Shouyou-kun.”

Osamu rolled his eyes and shoved at Atsumu’s shoulder “Oh shut up. Take yer Shouyou-kun compliments and excitement. We all know it’s all ya wanted since the announcement.” Atsumu gave his brother a betrayed glare.

“I’m going to kill ya in yer sleep ya bastard.” Atsumu told him hotly. “And when I’m in Tokyo at the end of the month yer going to be all sad and lonely in our bedroom, crying about how no one will play video games with ya!” It was cute how Atsumu could say something he was worried about but make it sound like a taunt.

“Or I’ll finally have some peace and quiet without yer donkey braying keepin’ me distracted.” Osamu said dryly. Atsumu spluttered.

“When are you going to Tokyo?” Hinata asked.

“December 19-24” Atsumu’s face was still scrunched up like he was incredibly irritated.

Hinata turned to Osamu with a grin “My term ends on the 22nd, wanna come for a sleepover then?” Atsumu once again spluttered.

Osamu cracked a smirk, knowing exactly what Hinata was doing “Yeah, sounds great. I can finally meet the girls.”

“What!” Atsumu had his head on a swivel glaring between the two of them “That ain’t fair! Why can’t I go?”

“‘Cause you’ll be in Tokyo for All-Japan.” Hinata said sweetly. If his smile was a bit sharper than normal it was only because Hinata had learned from the best since meeting Atsumu and Osamu.

“Man, I think I got the way better end of this deal.” Osamu said with a smirk, tucking his hands behind his head.

Atsumu scrunched up his face because he didn’t disagree but he definitely didn’t agree. Hinata had stayed twice overnight at the Miya household, both times in the Summer when his mom had said it was okay for him to stay on a Saturday night so he could go to practice and train with Atsumu and Osamu in the morning. Hinata had never extended an invitation to his own house to either of them before.

His house was small, and far, and he and Natsu took up a lot of space just being loud. He didn’t think you could fit both Atsumu and Osamu in it at once. The walls might shake apart from too much energy being contained within. It wasn’t All-Japan but Hinata was pretty sure Atsumu would be jealous enough of Osamu that maybe he’d feel less guilty and mean for going to All-Japan without his brother.

Heaving a sigh like he was Atlas and burdened with the world on his shoulders, Atsumu flicked a hand “Whatever, can we go play volleyball now?”

“Nah, I’m going to go home.”

Osamu and Atsumu turned to stare at him in mute betrayal.

“Actions have consequences.” Hinata said, using his best Kita impression “How will you guys learn not to fight at practice if you don’t experience consequences?”

“But! It’s punishing you too then!” Atsumu could sound so petulant sometimes.

“Mhmm. That’s why you should never do it again.”

“Ya musta been real mad at us huh?” Osamu’s fingers fiddled with the sleeve of his coat.

“Mhmm.”

“Ya’d rather teach us a lesson than play volleyball?” Atsumu seemed mystified by the very idea of this.

“Yup.” Hinata said, popping the p.

“What the fuck Shouyou-kun?” Atsumu crossed his arms, lip pushed out into a full on pout.

Hinata straddled his bike, leaning back in his seat he looked over his shoulder at his very cool, very nice, very stupid friends. He grinned “Thanks for talking to me about it. I was getting ready not to have practice tomorrow or ever again because you’re both so stubborn” He adjusted his bag on his shoulder “But, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow!” He waved a hand as he pedaled off, ignoring the half hearted protests from his friends.

Hinata was halfway up the mountain, wind whipping at his cheeks when he remembered that today was supposed to be a day where Kita’s second cousin, who lived near his uncle’s place, could give him a ride back home. He ought to ask Kita about managing stubborn pride and thinking ahead in the heat of the moment.

Dammit.

* * *

Osamu was nearly mauled by an evil little creature named Saitama. Named such in reference to the One-Punch Man himself.

“Because it usually just takes one hit for people to run scared.”

Osamu stared into the beady eyes glaring hatefully at him, clutched in Hinata’s arms as it made a deep throated shrill growling sound. It flexed it’s claws in anticipation of probably ripping Osamu’s face off.

“Try it again asshole and I’ll make ya into fried chicken” Osamu said, wagging his finger in the enormous rooster’s face. He read somewhere once that displaying dominance to dogs was how you got them to respect you.

Apparently the same did not apply to angry roosters. It clicked it’s beak at him, opening its tiny mouth to shriek at him again. What a terrible little monster. Osamu wondered if he could convince his mom to get him a guard rooster for the house. He’d train it to peck Atsumu’s ankles.

“Okay Tama-kun, I’m going to put you in time out if you can’t be nice.” Hinata tutted at the bird like he was talking to a cute infant and not a puffed up bird from hell. “Osamu-san wants to meet the girls, and he’s a guest, so please take care of him.”

Saitama made another shrieking sound and tried to flap the wings that Hinata had gently pinned to Saitama’s sides. Instead it kicked it’s legs out, trying to reach Osamu. Hinata heaved a big fond sigh and turned towards the cute little house up on stilts with the ramp. Shoving the rooster through the little doorway, Hinata expertly flicked a wooden panel over the door and locked it in place.

Saitama made another warbling shriek sound, sharp talons scuffing at the door before all turned quiet.

Hinata turned to give Osamu a bashful grin “He usually hates everyone, don’t take it personally.”

“Tama-kun?”

Hinata puffed out his cheeks adorably “Don’t give me that look, he’s cute when he’s not trying to fight you.”

Osamu snorted, trailing after Hinata towards the tall fenced in hen house nestled next to Hinata’s home. “Ya think that’s cute? Shouyou-kun am I gonna have to deal with the girls maulin’ me too?” Should he have brought his old catchers mask from when he used to play baseball in middle school? Maybe some extra layers of socks?

Hinata threw an offended scoff over his shoulders “These are the sweetest ladies you’ll ever meet!” Pulling open the door to the enclosed structure.

Hinata was a weird kid. Osamu had known that from the moment he’d met him that fine spring afternoon back in May, following after Atsumu on his strangest whim to date. It wasn’t just that Hinata was the freakiest natural athlete Osamu had ever seen. Nor was it just that he might be as much of a bottomless pit for volleyball as his brother was. Or that he had somehow in less than an hour wormed his way into a friendship with Atsumu upon meeting him. His Atsumu: famous for being a friendless buttwipe. Heck, every single person who’d met Hinata seemed to like him almost immediately. Akagi’s early grumpiness with Hinata seemed to stem from his losing his weekends to some kid he didn’t know, replaced now with crowing speeches about how amazing his protege was.

Hell, he’d even had Suna charmed within minutes of meeting him last week. Suna’s curiosity finally getting the better of his laziness and he’d stuck around last Saturday to see what these practices that were effectively an open secret amongst Inarizaki players by December, were all about.

Oozing out of the locker room after they’d started warming up, Suna had pointed across the gymnasium to where Atsumu and Osamu had been roughhousing with Hinata. “Hey, Kita-senpai. The twins are bullying an elementary school kid.”

Hinata had abruptly twisted, nearly kicking Atsumu in the teeth in his haste to give Suna an indignant “Hey!”

In typical fashion, Kita hadn’t even looked up from his stretching “Oh, hello Suna-kun. Come to join our practice?”

“Nah. I’m tired.” He was still pointing over at Osamu and the others. “Who’s the kid?”

Surprising no one, Hinata wanted to immediately run up and greet the new person. Only this desire was hampered by the fact that he and Osamu had been playing airplane, with Osamu lifting Hinata up by the armpits over his head, his legs suspended behind his back, which Atsumu had well in hand “So Shouyou-kun can Superman, obviously, ‘Samu”.

Osamu had only done it because Hinata had walked in bragging about his annual check up at school. Claimed he’d gained soooo much muscle, and then like a perfect manzai comedy routine he flexed with his spindly arms to little effect. Atsumu had picked him up to try and prove a point about how light Hinata must be only to complain “Christ yer fuckin’ heavy,” and Osamu had told Atsumu he was a weak kneed jellyfish with the muscle definition of an ugly squid. And then Atsumu threw him a challenge, so of course Osamu ended up picking Hinata up, demonstrating just how light Hinata was to the much stronger, better, more handsome Miya twin.

The three of them did this sort of thing often enough that even Aran stopped reacting anymore. Though he had freaked out that one time Hinata had managed to prove a point by suplexing Atsumu on the grass outside, nearly braining him on the concrete path.

Logistically Osamu should have been able to handle a squirming Hinata. Realistically however He’d had an intense weight training session prior to this and had been holding Hinata, who was surprisingly heavy, aloft for a good minute by then. What followed was of course immortalized by the biggest asshole Osamu had ever decided to be friends with.

Hinata’s wiggling caused Osamu’s elbows to abruptly unlock, and Hinata pitched forward with a cry. Atsumu grabbed his ankles as he fell forwards, allowing Hinata to hook his knees on Osamu’s shoulders so he didn’t face plant on the court.

Only Osamu ended up with a face full of skinny Hinata ass and Hinata’s continued momentum had his forehead colliding with his junk. With a wheeze Osamu crumpled forward, bringing all three of them to the ground, because for some stupid reason Atsumu hadn’t thought to let go the whole time.

By the time they managed to extricate themselves from that embarrassing tumble, Osamu looked up to see Suna’s camera phone pointed at them, gleefully recording their humiliation. Sucking his teeth as all three of them made their way over, Osamu tried adjusting his shorts ‘cause fuck Hinata’s head had packed a fuckin’ wallop. “Hey Suna, ya wanna delete that video?”

Suna was tapping at his phone, undoubtedly saving the video to the cloud somewhere “Nah,” And then he flicked a glance down at Hinata “I don’t care who you are, but that was pretty awesome. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Hinata seemed profoundly confused about the flat tone of voice Suna was using “Are you being sarcastic?”

“Nooooo...”

Hinata bit his lip, looking between Osamu and Atsumu to try and gauge what mood Suna was apparently going for. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just an asshole.” Atsumu grumped, sticking his hand out “Delete the video Suna.”

“I can’t.”

Osamu adjusted his shorts again. Maybe he should ask Kita for an ice pack “Why not exactly?”

“I finally have irrefutable proof.” Suna said solemnly, his eyes almost glittering.

“Proof of what?” Hinata asked excitedly, leaning in. Osamu seriously hoped that he learned to be less trusting next year when he was on the team. Suna was, well really the whole iceberg in terms of asshole-ness on Inarizaki, given that Hinata was Atsumu’s favorite person. But still.

Suna leaned forward, lifting a hand to his mouth conspiratorially “That these two are big loli-cons.”

From near the net Akagi felt the need to interject “That’s what I said!”

Atsumu cracked his knuckles “Ya ready ta die Rintan?” Osamu crossed his arms, fully ready to shove Suna and his stupid phone into a snow bank outside. Suna just gave them an eye crinkle without lifting a corner of his mouth.

“Oh! You’re mister muscles!” Hinata chirped, catching a closed fist in his open palm. Atsumu and Osamu exchanged a joint disgusted look, because that was absolutely NOT how they referred to Suna in conversation. He couldn’t have gone with Mr. Lazy? Or Mr. Meme Phone Douche? Hinata shifted into his polite bow “Hi! I’m Hinata Shouyou, it’s nice to meet you!”

Suna looked at Hinata, blinked “Suna.”

“Shouyou-kun, Shouyou-kun, ya don’t need to bother rememberin’ his name. He’s gonna be dead in a few seconds anyways.” Atsumu said airly, a promise of a world of hurt for Suna glinting in his eyes.

Hinata stuck a hand in the air, palm out to block Atsumu’s face. He then leaned forward also lifting his free hand to cover his mouth “If you stick around there’s plenty more proof these two’re loli’s” And then he gave an exaggerated wink, even as he expertly dodged Atsumu and Osamu trying to grab him, scurrying off cackling to hide next to Kita like the coward he apparently was.

They’d been training Hinata too well these last few months on their attacks - he was getting awfully cheeky.

Suna watched Hinata go, lifting a hand to his chest. In his flatest, most monotone voice “I think I might be in love.” Smirking at the dark looks Osamu and Atsumu gave him. Suna didn’t end up staying for practice, but he did later that same night send Osamu a remixed cut of his video with Hinata headbutting him in the dick to the beat of Hollaback Girl.

It was only a few short days after that Atsumu had to leave for Tokyo, getting fucking weird and angsty about leaving Osamu behind. The one saving grace had of course been Shouyou, with his magic friendship powers. Everytime Atsumu started getting cagey Osamu just had to wonder out loud “Ya think I should bring this DVD to Shouyou-kun’s place when I have my sleepover?” or “Shouyou-kun’s never played Pro Evolution Soccer, maybe I’ll bring the PS3?” or “Maaaan, I wonder what kinda foods Shouyou-kun is going to cook for me at his house? His house that I am going to. Ya know that house ‘Sumu? The one ya never been to?”

Blessings of all blessings, Atsumu couldn’t bother to be angsty about going to Tokyo without him, or upset that Osamu wasn’t as devastated as he was. He was too caught up in being pathetically jealous of Osamu’s one on one hangout time with Hinata.

The night before he was set to leave, two days before term officially ended, Atsumu was packing up his gear in their room, pouting the whole time “It’s just not fair ‘Samu! Why do you get to go, and I don’t?” Osamu magnanimously did not point out that he was about to go to one of the most exclusive selection camps in Japan.

“Do you think Shouyou-kun likes ya better’n me?” He mumbled piteously, rolling his socks up into a neat pile. And then Atsumu glared over his shoulder at Osamu, laid out on his lower bunk reading “No way he does. I toss to him, and he loves hittin’ my tosses more’n anything.”

Osamu was only human though. “Huh, I didn’t know yer tosses had been invited to Shouyou-kun’s house for a sleepover.” He hummed without looking up from his manga. Osamu was pelted with a weeks worth of rolled socks for his trouble.

No one would go so far as to say Hinata Shouyou was a genius. At least not in the critical thinking sense. Or the booksmarts' sense. Maybe not even street smarts. He was kind of a big airhead, who spaced out a lot because he was too distracted by his own volleyball related fantasies. His leaps in logic were weird, especially because he only mumbled half of what he was thinking out loud as he tried to figure something out. Most of his skills at volleyball seemed to stem from his freaky athletic ability and pure instincts - that while still rough, were also quickly sharpening over time.

And yet, finessing the extraction of what the fuck had been bothering Atsumu, and by extension Osamu a few weeks ago, had taken some sort of genius. Osamu and his brother had simmered under a detente since they got the news of Atsumu’s selection. They’d talked. And it hadn’t gone well. They’d fought and it’d gone worse. They ignored each other and that just led to more fights. Their parents had banned talk of volleyball at the house, which was all Atsumu ever wanted to talk about, so he just sat in resentful silences. By not being allowed to talk about volleyball, it resulted in Osamu only being able to think of volleyball, so he was pretty useless at family dinners too.

Atsumu had been mad that Osamu hadn’t been chosen and then made angrier when it seemed like Osamu didn’t care.

Osamu had been a bit jealous and annoyed when he heard the announcement, not liking the implication of losing against Atsumu. But then he’d been baffled at how not upset he was, and then as was his way he’d shrugged it off - which just made things worse with Atsumu. Which made things worse for Osamu because Atsumu was mad at him and his brother was like someone picking at a scab when he was upset - inevitably there was going to be some blood.

They stopped being able to talk to each other for a while and Osamu wondered if they were just going to be like that until after the camp. Or maybe it’d get worse ‘cause they definitely weren’t resolving things. And then they’d almost hit each other and like a pissed off fucking angel, Hinata had beaned them with volleyballs and actually honest to god yelled at them.

When dealing with an energetic people pleaser like Hinata, you kinda just get used to them being pretty even keeled. Part of it was ‘cause Hinata loved volleyball more than anything, and he was a greedy little shit that was happiest when he was getting his fix - so Osamu was used to seeing Hinata do nothing but smile and laugh and cheer with them. He was pretty simple and straightforward as far as people went.

There’d been flashes here and there of Hinata’s greater emotional range. Sometimes he could get weirdly quiet as he tried to solve some things. Or there’d been that weird stuff with his birthday in the summer, not wanting to celebrate it. The closest Osamu had ever seen Hinata to angry had been that boiling resentment when they’d first met Hinata back in May when Hinata had jerked his head up to snarl “I am a volleyball player!” at him.

That had nothing on the cold anger he’d tossed at Osamu and Atsumu that day. The disappointment. The driving need to disengage completely from their behaviour. Osamu doesn’t think he’s ever seen Atsumu that honestly terrified, as the moment Hinata shoved out the door to the gym without looking back at them. All Osamu could think was ‘We fucked up.’

So they’d chased after him without a word to the others and only just barely managed to catch up, and maybe Osamu started to feel a bit scared too because there was nothing of their bright and friendly little friend in the angry person snapping at them to let go of his bike - so he could get away from THEM.

But because Hinata had some sort of magic it hadn’t even taken him long to figure out the problem. He pulled those abscessed teeth and packed them in with exactly what they needed to hear. Atsumu felt like he couldn’t revel in his success because he achieved it without Osamu. So he congratulated and heaped praise on the most selfish person Osamu knew, who’d intentionally been starving himself for the twin who Atsumu felt he was leaving behind.

For Osamu, he was upset that Atsumu couldn’t let go of them being a pair. So Hinata had decided Osamu was going to come for a sleepover, just him, no Atsumu. Because Hinata always treated them like individuals. Not ‘the twins’, not ‘Atsumu & Osamu’, but his improbable friend Atsumu, and his far more likely friend Osamu. This had killed two birds by also giving Atsumu something to resent that wasn’t Osamu and his lack of... Everything that made Atsumu, Atsumu.

Plus Hinata had invariably given Osamu dunking-on-Atsumu privileges for most of December and for that Osamu was always going to be grateful.

It was why when Hinata had said “How about we bike to my place together, that way I can make sure you don’t get lost!” Osamu had said yes like an idiot. Because maybe he’d always kind of thought he was waaay stronger than Hinata. Until halfway up Mount Rokko, with cars whizzing past, the roadway a bit slick, Osamu wondered if he was going to die like this. His legs burned and his lungs screamed, slowly squeaking his bike forward up the hill.

Hinata waited for him patiently, barely breathing hard and only with a token amount of sweat on his face. At least the way down was much easier. Osamu wondered if either he was going to live out the rest of his days on the wrong side of the mountain, or if he’d somehow manage to convince his dad to come pick him up. Because there was no way in hell he’d be able to manage to winding roads back up the mountain, even with Hinata there to encourage him.

At least the chickens were in fact nice. Far nicer than that angry little bastard Tama-kun. Osamu was petting down the long neck of Fumiko-chan, reevaluating his attachment to chicken and the consumption thereof. At his feet Rumi-chan and Chiharu-kun pecked at his shoelaces, wanting to be picked up for scritches too.

“I didn’t know chickens liked to be pet.” Osamu mumbles, scratching a finger into Fumiko-chan’s soft feathers.

Hinata was squatting down, a number of the girls flocking around him, looking for food. Katsuya-chan perched on his shoulder, periodically pecking at his hair. Hinata gives him a grin “I think everyone kinda likes to be pet, don’t they?”

Osamu snorts. “Shouyou-kun, didja invite me all the way out here just to hit on me? Jeez.” He gives Hinata a teasing grin.

Hinata just stares back blankly for a moment, before his face flushes and he ducks his head “No!” disrupting Katsuya’s grooming? Eating? “I just meant like, people- chickens! like it when-” And then he scrunches up his face to squint at Osamu “You’re a jerk.”

Osamu gives him a toothy grin, depositing a disgruntled Fumiko-chan onto the ground again. “Mind if we grab somethin’ to eat? I’m starving after that bike ride”

Hinata brushes his hands together “I’ll give you shrimp crackers if you help me make dinner.”

Osamu grins “Deal.”

Hinata’s little farmhouse wasn’t very large. Just a traditional older Japanese house with a wrap around veranda. Kitchen bled into the living room, one bathroom, and a large side room that could be split into three rooms by sliding doors. Osamu had almost been disappointed to learn that Hinata’s mom and his sister Natsu were out of the house visiting a family friend out of town. He’d kinda been looking forward to filling in some of the details of Hinata’s life, paint colour and texture to his descriptions.

Not that Hinata wasn’t emphatic and excitable about most of the details of his life.

Hinata was using his chopsticks to draw through the air “And because Natsu is muuuuch better at asking for things my mom finally caved and let us clear a patch of ground for that net.” He twirled the chopsticks around, pursing his lips “Though I don’t recommend trying to install net poles when the ground is frozen”

Osamu grinned, taking a bite of his croquette “Ya got a better set up out there than I do back home. Our yard is too narrow for a net and our Ma’ would probably kill us if we tried,” He could imagine her stricken face as she bemoaned the brutality done to her azaleas.

“Y’know ‘Sumu would probably die to have a set up like that.” Maybe it was for the best that they didn’t have a net at home. Atsumu would probably never make it into class on time, always late ‘cause he needs to do one more toss, or try one more thing. Osamu would never know rest again either, lest he somehow convince Hinata to move into the Miya household.

Maaaybe the Hinata household would make an exchange. One Osamu for one Shouyou-kun... He could get used to a pastoral life- He’d die if he had to make that bike ride everyday. Thought officially shelved.

“Sure, but not before he complained about the tension of the net or the height of the poles, or that there aren’t antennae” Hinata was giving Osamu a lopsided grin, inviting Osamu to start ribbing his brother.

“It’d just be bitch bitch bitch about ruining his good court shoes.” Osamu puppeted his hands into a mouth.

“Oh man, he’d hate dealing with the wind too!”

“Ya know for a fact he’d be picking fights with the sky the second it sent one of his tosses off.”

“He’d be all ‘Ya want me ta practice like an animal, what’re ya! A scrub?’”

Osamu paused, wrinkling his nose “Is that yer attempt at kansai-ben?”

Hinata grinned, pushing his elbows forward on the kotatsu “Ya think it’s pretty slick right?”

Osamu bit back a grin, extending his drawl further “ ‘s somethin’ a’right” And then he shook his head “Shouyou-kun ya been here a year, I’d a thought ya’d have assimilated by now.”

It was Hinata’s turn to wrinkle his nose “You should hear Natsu, it’s ‘ya’ this and ‘didja’ that. She’s turning into a real country rube.” Hinata shook his head, wiping away a fake tear at the inhumanity of it all.

“Shouyou-kun we are literally sitting at a kotatsu inside yer farmhouse after feedin’ yer chickens. Pretty sure yer well past country rube at this point.” Osamu grinned when he felt Hinata kick at him under the kotatsu.

“We can’t all be city slickers like you Osamu-san.” Which just made Osamu laugh. He had been called many things in his life but city slicker was not one of them. Despite Kobe being the sixth largest city in Japan, his accent meant most people thought he was some cattle farming hillbilly.

“Think yer ready for the try-outs next month?” Osamu asked, changing the subject.

Hinata thought about it for a minute, staring off at the far wall. He licked his lips “I think so yeah. I’m determined to make them notice me, and there’s still a ton of stuff I need to do better, but I think by the time that I’m done, everyone at Inarizaki is going to know I can fly.”

He loved to see that fire burn in Hinata’s eyes. “Uwah Shouyou-kun, yer always so cool” Osamu couldn’t wait to watch him use that fire in a real game against all the teams Inarizaki needed to crush.

“Are you ready for Nationals?”

Osamu snorted “Always am. Might have to get ready to stop ‘Sumu from murdering Sakusa from Itachiyama though. He has a ‘vendetta’.” He used finger quotes for that last part.

“That one of the top aces in Japan right? He’s just a first year?” Hinata asked, leaning forward.

Just. Haha, Osamu didn’t think anyone had probably ever used the word ‘just’ to describe Sakusa. Dude was annoying as hell, and taller than him and Atsumu, basically a lanky fuckin’ giraffe. Actually now that Osamu thought about it, there was no way Sakusa hadn’t also been invited to All-Japan. Osamu sure hoped Atsumu could keep his shit to himself while there - he had coaches who weren’t used to his bullshit to impress.

“Yeah, he’s real good, same age as me and ‘Sumu.” Osamu smirked “He’s definitely at All-Japan with ‘Sumu right now. It’s probably driving him nuts”

Something in Hinata’s expression softened a little bit, his lip sucked in by his teeth as he looked at Osamu hesitantly. Uh-oh.

“Osamu-san?”

“Mhmm?”

Hinata fidgeted with his chopsticks, long since done their meal. He rolled them between his fingers once, twice “We never really talked about what was bothering you about that whole thing.”

‘That whole thing’. What a way to summarize Osamu’s simultaneous existential dread and lack thereof.

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Hinata flicked his fingers anxiously.

Osamu sighed, crossing his arms on the kotatsu and folding forward to rest his head on top of them “What about it?”

Hinata hesitated only for a second “I know why Atsumu was upset, he was worried about leaving you behind and ‘cause you didn’t seem worried about the same thing and the whole guilt thing.”

Osamu blinked, tipping his head to look at Hinata curiously “He told you?”

Hinata squirmed, his cheeks heating “Y-yeah, the next day? I think you and Aran-san and Kita-san went to go get boba?”

He recalled. The day after Hinata had for the first time ever bailed on practice because of their behaviour. That talk. Hinata fixing things. The next day Hinata apologized to the second years for leaving abruptly, but everyone just thought he was cool. And then after... Kita had invited him along for one of his and Aran’s boba excursions. Atsumu begged off and Osamu had just assumed he’d gone home. Huh.

“That’s good.” Osamu figured it probably was. Good for Atsumu at least, having someone to talk to. He squinted at Hinata “Ya know ya don’t gotta fix both of us.”

Hinata huffed a sigh “I’m not fixing anything, I’m checkin in on my friend.”

“Did ‘Sumu say something to make ya think ya had to check on me?” Based on Hinata’s expression, bingo! Osamu tucked his face into his arms and heaved a hot breath into the cocoon of his arms.

He lifted his head to regard Hinata “Circle o’ silence? Ya don’t say shit to anyone else, ‘specially not ‘Sumu.” Hinata held up his pinky finger, which was juvenile in a cute way, but Osamu linked his own pinky all the same.

“I was- I think I was upset by how not upset I was? I expected to be hurt and infuriated that I wasn’t picked. I think maybe I was more offended that Aran wasn’t, more than I was for me maybe.” Osamu shrugged.

“I like competin’ against ‘Sumu and tryin’ to beat him, that’s just good fun. I like volleyball a lot. But maybe, uh,” Here Osamu grimaced because he’d never said this part out loud “I think I’ve come to realize I don’t love volleyball the same way ‘Sumu does. And I think not getting invited to All-Japan just confirmed for me that I don’t need to play longer than I currently am?”

He finished quietly, letting the silence hang around him. He felt unburderened, but like a livewire was still capable of snapping right in front of him. Hinata loved volleyball like Atsumu, Osamu was pretty sure. Hinata was nicer than his brother could ever hope to be, but Osamu was still pretty sure he’d never understand either. For Osamu volleyball was a hobby, something to do that was fun. It didn’t thrum in his veins like it did for some people, like the boy sitting across from him.

“So you don’t want to go pro?” Hinata asked, expression curious but there was no judgement behind his eyes.

Osamu barked a laugh “Nah, I really don’t think I do. I don’t think I’d like it that much.”

“And All-Japan made you realize that?” Again, no judgement.

Osamu pressed his fingers into the grain of the table, catching on a knot. “Yeah, and that maybe me ‘n ‘Sumu are pretty codependent because he was so hurt I wasn’t gonna be by his side for this.” If Atsumu pursued volleyball, he wouldn’t have Osamu by his side. He was just going to have to get used to it.

“Do you know what you want to do then, outside of volleyball?”

Osamu gave a rueful smile “Nah, not yet. I only just realized this wasn’t my path” He flicked a glance up at Hinata through his lashes “I think I still got time.”

Hinata had his arms crossed, eyes closed as he seemed to be sorting something out in his head, nodding along. His eyes snapped open and he gave Osamu a grin “You’re so cool Osamu-san. I hope I can be as laid back and amazing as you are one day.”

“Yer not going to try to convince me otherwise?” Osamu gaped. This was not what he had expected.

Hinata’s brow wrinkled “No? Why would I? You’ve obviously thought about this a lot.” And then Hinata’s eyes widened “Wait! You’re not going to quit volleyball before I join the team are you?”

He looked so stricken. Osamu laughed, shaking his head “Nah, I’ll stick around till I graduate.” He tipped his chin up “Gotta make sure this polished scrub I’ve been working on makes me proud.”

Hinata beamed “I will!”

Osamu nodded thoughtfully “Mmm, I still think I’d like it better if I kept an eye on ya, just in case.” and then laughed when Hinata flicked a decorative plastic pear towards him in retaliation.

Yeah. Hinata was a weird kid. But Osamu couldn’t think of a better friend.

* * *

It has been two weeks and Kita is still reeling. Captain. Captaincy. Captain Kita. Captain of the Inarizaki boys team. Captain to the strongest challengers. He’s had more than a few quiet conversations with Aran on their walks back home after practice about expectations and managing feelings and coming to accept reality.

During these talks Aran frequently wipes a tired hand down his face and says “Shinsuke, you know you can just be happy, right?”

It is the first week of February and they are having a team meeting in an underused classroom. Kita is curious about what they’re going to talk about today. He’s still learning the ropes, and Coach Kurosu is more likely to use him to wrangle their boisterous team than to share details and plans. Coach promises that will change soon - he’s just been busy. Being third in the nation, again, and running tryouts will do that to a person.

Kita will not let him down.

There’s a video screen set up at the front of the room and Coach Oomi is fiddling with the AV set, trying to get a video loaded onto the projector. Kita sits in the back between Omimi and Aran, as the only members of the team who can consistently claim to pay attention. Kita is hyper vigilant of slackers, watching his team carefully. His notebook in front of him ready to take notes, highlighters and pens organized just so to be within easy reach.

Kita would have thought they’d reviewed game tape from Spring Nationals enough at this point. He can feel the restless energy of a team disinterested in going over their mistakes for the upteenth time. Perhaps he ought to talk to Coach Kurosu about more productive use of the team’s time. Even just practicing failed formations from the tape they’ve watched would be more useful than rubbing their noses in their mistakes. Kurosu’s penchant for dog training metaphors has become a bit tiresome.

Coach Kurosu walks into the room, his lined face pinched as he sucks on a hard candy, eyes flicking over his team. Only half the boys in the room sit up straighter. From behind, Kita watches Atsumu and Osamu slouch half out of their chairs, completely bored of this meeting already. Atsumu had been extra sulky over practice being cut short today, he’d been on a service streak and wanted to hit 100. Kita made him stop at 87. Atsumu had complained the whole way from the locker room to the showers to getting dressed to walking into this room.

At the front of the room Kurosu clears his throat “Boys, I need your help.”

Kita blinked.

Behind Coach a paused screen lit up the backdrop. This was not a video from nationals. This was a screenshot of their own gymnasium. Boys in pinnies strewn across Inarizaki’s multiple volleyball courts in the midst of a rally. Kita thought he saw a bit of orange in the corner of the screen, almost off camera.

“As you know, we’ve been running our preliminary tryout camps for all incoming middle school students.” Kurosu crossed his arms as he leaned back against a table near the front of the room.

Inarizaki has been a powerhouse school for nearly two decades - something Kita believed to be a self fulfilling prophecy. The school in the prefecture with the best volleyball team, with the best funding, was of course going to attract the best players, further reinforcing their dominance. The volleyball team every year received over one hundred new applicants, and typically only two to four students would be selected for the team. Some years you might catch five or six like with Atsumu’s year, but those were few and far between.

To help with this massive influx of potential recruits, and to start the season by “hitting the ground running” as Coach Kurosu liked to say - Inarizaki had permission from the school district to run a selection camp prior to the new school year to try and weed out the ten best players from the group of one hundred middle schoolers. This allowed students to choose different schools, if they so choose, and in doing so helped distribute much of the volleyball talent in the prefecture to other schools as well.

In the first week of the new term those ten players would practice with the existing team to find their final number. It was an intense and stressful time and Kita looked back on that time of his life fondly. It was when he’d made friends with Aran and Akagi - the two of them anxious messes during try-outs. He and Omimi had come to Inarizaki together from their academically focused middle school, recruited by Coach Kurosu.

Kita hadn’t seen Hinata in the last two weeks, the selection camps took place during weekends when they otherwise would have held practice. That didn’t stop Hinata from spamming him with messages, gushing about “HOW COOL” all the other middle school players he’d met were. Or talking about all the things he got to try. Or just how many other people there were his own age at tryouts and he had no idea there were so many people who loved volleyball like he did.

At no point did he ever report how he was doing at tryouts. When Kita asked after his performance Hinata’s response was as expected: “Oh, I have no idea. I hope good! Great! But I’m having a ton of fun!”

“What exactly do you need our help with, coach?” Ginjima asked, his brow furrowed. Kita was pleased to see he at least raised his hand before speaking, even if he hadn’t waited to be called on.

Coach Kurosu gave a rueful smile, exchanging an amused look with Oomi. “All you kids come from different middle schools from around the prefecture, and ya do because we keep a close eye on talent. For recruitment.”

He scratched at his chin, squinting up at the ceiling “I’ve been coaching here for seven years now and I have never been surprised by a player I’ve never seen before.”

The team shifted in their seats, a low murmur breaking out amongst the group. Kita noted Atsumu and Osamu were sitting up, leaning forward in their seats, suddenly very interested. Kita paused his note taking to watch Kurosu’s expression carefully. Was it a good surprise or a bad one? There was no doubt in his mind who exactly had left such an impression.

“Roll tape.”

The video starts and a rally gets going - and that is definitely Hinata in the bottom corner - receive made and then Hinata is flying in from the back row on the attack. Point for his team. The video jumps, a perfectly timed block where a visibly baffled spiker stares down and across the net at the short orange kid who managed to stuff him. Video cuts. Hinata makes a broad attack. Video cuts. Hinata leaps up higher than the blockers can reach, spiking the ball in an excellent cross. Video cuts. A powerful spike from the opposing team and Hinata comes from nowhere to receive, his body rolling backwards to absorb impact.

He’s having fun alright. Though the video quality is poor, there is no mistaking the wide grin Hinata wears as he plays. Kita assesses the room. Do they see what he sees? What Aran and Akagi and the twins see? Are they awed? Confused? Is Hinata as amazing to everyone else as he is to his friends? They must see it, right?

The video is paused, the camera zoomed in enough to make out the wide smile on Hinata’s face as he high fives a teammate. Kurosu taps the screen with his fingers, glaring out into the room from behind his glasses “Just who the heck is he? Have any of you ever heard of this kid before?”

In front of him Kita watches the twin bow their heads together and grin at each other, fist bumping under the table. Atsumu had some ideas about keeping their involvement in Hinata’s development a secret. He claimed to like the pizzaz and mystery of a dark horse middle schooler coming in and sweeping tryouts with how amazing he is. Kita had been disappointed that Aran and Osamu had agreed, with Akagi remaining neutral.

As much as Atsumu would like to claim he wanted to keep this secret for the drama of it all, Kita knew better. Atsumu would never admit this out loud, but he was profoundly anxious that Hinata’s skills would be attributed to him, or them as a group alone - and not to Hinata himself. He worried that expectations would be too high if Hinata was known as Atsumu and Osamu’s protege, and that he’d fail to meet them. It was why Atsumu had refused to toss to Hinata in December at all so he could practice hitting “shittier” tosses from Osamu and Kita - so he was prepared to shine without a nationally ranked setter at his side.

Atsumu desperately wanted Hinata to stand on his own two feet, forgetting of course that volleyball was a team sport.

After two years on this team, carefully paying attention, Kita was pretty sure he understood Coach Kurosu well. This was a man who knew well enough that there was more to a successful team than the raw power and talent of your players. It was Aran who helped him see it on one of their many talks since Kita was handed his number one jersey.

“I’m just not very good, I don’t know how to lead one of the best teams in the country.” Kita had said, fingers plucking at the straw of his boba tea.

Aran had sighed “Do you think Coach knows what he’s doing?”

Kita blinked “Yes.”

“And he knows what he’s doing when it comes to volleyball?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Aran had given him a small smile, warm eyes crinkling a bit “Then maybe Coach puts a lot of value in things outside of just raw skills.” He took a sip of his drink, grinning “Otherwise you wouldn’t be our captain.”

Kita had stared at him in wonder. Was it really so simple? Though Kita couldn’t let the opportunity to tease his friend slip by “Aran-kun, are ya sayin’ I got my spot in spite of how bad I am?” And then allowed himself a small smile as Aran got flustered denying that accusation.

Kita looked at his coach sitting at the front of the room and knew this was a man who would appreciate what Hinata had inadvertently managed to accomplish with Atsumu and Osamu. With Aran and Akagi. With Kita. Even if Hinata wasn’t also on the precipice of being monstrously good.

“Coach.” Kita held his hand up, waiting to be acknowledged. Beside him Aran was staring with wide eyes. Atsumu and Osamu had twisted in their seats to look at him with horror. Akagi had his chin in his hand, an amused smile on his face.

“Yeah Shinsuke, got somethin’ for us?”

“That is Hinata Shouyou of Yukigaoka Middle School.” Coach Kurosu blinked, a bit surprised.

“Yeah, you know him?”

“Yes. Hinata-kun has been a part of regular trainin’ sessions Atsumu and Osamu have been runnin’ in secret since May last year.” You could hear a pin drop in the room. The twins had frozen in their seats, eyes staring at Kita with betrayal. “Aran-kun and Michi-kun and myself also helped out regularly since last summer.”

Coach Kurosu’s expression was significantly more slack than the sharp eyed surliness he usually wore. His lips parted like he wanted to ask a question. Then his head tipped. Then he shot Coach Oomi a thoughtful expression. Then he turned his sharp eyed gaze to the twins

“Atsumu. Osamu.” His barked, getting the twins to turn like a pair of puppies caught digging in the garbage. He narrowed his eyes “Is that true?” Kita almost laughed at the incredulity on his face.

The twins squirmed, exchanging silent looks with each other. Finally Osamu mumbled a “Maayybe...”

Kurosu pressed his lips together, rubbing at his eyes underneath his glasses. “Anything to say Atsumu?”

The set of Atsumu’s shoulders was particularly mulish, so Kita could only imagine what his face looked like “He’s really talented and it’d be dumb not ta take him.”

Coach Kurosu just looked tired. Like he’d been trying to solve a confounding puzzle for a while only for the answer to slap in the face revealing deeply improbable circumstances that’d he’d never have solved on his own. Kita strongly suspected that their coach had been feeling confident in his supreme knowledge of all volleyball that went on in Hyougo. Only for Hinata to come in and shatter that. A young player who defied all expectations.

After a few long moments of coach Kurosu sucking on his teeth he let out a tired “Why?”

The twins instantly bristled. That was their least favorite question. Why Hinata? Him? He’s so short! Why are you wasting your time? You two and him? Hinata was a far better player after most of a year spent practicing with talented players, but that didn’t stop Atsumu and Osamu from getting defensive.

To spare everyone Atsumu’s inevitable rude outburst at their coach, Kita interjected “Hinata-kun was a very raw and inexperienced player at first. But as you can see,” Kita gestered at the screen “Structured practices have done him a lot of good. Atsumu and Osamu recognized his latent talent and chose to help develop it,” And now for the hard part - why the secrecy?

“However, given Hinata-kun’s lack of experience there were concerns that any time dedicated to him would be seen as a waste of time. I hope ya now have sufficient evidence to indicate that wasn’t the case.” Kita finished, keeping steady eye contact with their coach.

Coach Kurosu pursed his lips. Eyes flicking up the screen and then looking at the twins thoughtfully “This started last May, ya said?”

Kita suppressed a smile. Yes, that is correct Coach. Exactly around the time Atsumu and Osamu’s behaviour started improving. Working it back he might even be able to start reading into Aran’s increase in confidence in the lead up to the Inter-High nationals. To Akagi helping out more on receives practice.

After a moment of chewing on the inside of his cheek, Coach Kurosu merely shrugged his shoulders “Huh.”

“Uh, is that all Coach?” Aran asked, only a little meekly from beside him.

Kurosu crossed and then recrossed his arms, making eye contact with coach Oomi again. They both shrugged at each other.

“Yup, I guess it is. Meeting dismissed.”

Everyone gathered their things, other players eyeing the twins and himself with open curiosity. Atsumu was glaring defiantly at anyone who looked like they were going to ask him a question. Suna casually tossed over his shoulder on the way out “I have video for anyone who wants to learn more about Hinata Shouyou” Osamu chased after him, trying to steal his phone to stop the spread of his embarrassing hollaback video.

Omimi was staring at Kita just a little bit wounded, hurt to have been left out of the big secret. Ah, there would be some feathers to unruffle. He collected his things, stowed them in his bag and made for the door with his friends.

“Shinsuke.” Coach called, stopping him in his tracks.

Omimi and Aran gave him concerned looks, but Kita waved them on with a small smile. Alone with his two coaches, Kita tucked his hands behind his back and gave a short bow “Yes coach?”

Kurosu was drumming his fingers on his chin, squinting up at the still image of Hinata smiling. “Y’think he’d be a good fit for the team?”

“I can’t think of anyone better fer team unity” Kita replied honestly.

“Hmph,” Kurosu turned to look at him “In the future Shinsuke, do me a favour and tell me when yer secretly developing a protege.”

Kita gave his coach a smile “Oh, he’s not my protege Coach.”

Kurosu barked a laugh, shaking his head “The twins, really? They all get along?”

Kita tipped his head, thinking of how to describe the friendship between Hinata and Atsumu and Osamu “I don’t think the twins like anyone more than Hinata-kun.”

Kurosu nodded “Alright then.” and he dismissed Kita to go rejoin his friends.

Two and a half months later Kita had the distinct privilege of handing the Inarizaki-black #10 jersey to his favorite kouhai in the world. Hinata proudly bounced back to his seat between Atsumu and Osamu, to the loud cheers of his friends.

Looking out over his team, Kita allowed himself a small grin. They’d been the greatest challengers for a long long time. Perhaps this would be the year they finally became the greatest champions. Kita certainly hoped so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the end of Fox in the Hole. Next up in the series is Foxglove which takes place during Hinata's first year at Inarizaki. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the positive response to this story. I was a bit worried about jumping too far ahead without explaining the HOW of Hinata making it onto Inarizaki, so I appreciate your patience as I lay the ground work. Now we can finally jump into the exciting juicy stuff~
> 
> PS - Re: Hinata's vivid fantasies about the magical Miya twins. I'd super appreciate no one sending me HP jokes/analysis/etc the author is a transphobe and doesn't bear talking about. 
> 
> Now, the Miya twins as shitty petulant greek gods? Lay those headcanons on me. All about them classics.
> 
> Come yell with me about HQ! at my writing twitter: [@boomturkeyao3](https://twitter.com/boomturkeyao3)


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